The huge farm bill reauthorization under discussion among House and Senate conferees contains two food safety-related items that could help regulatory agencies better protect the U.S. food supply and provide consumers with more information when making purchasing decisions. First, the bill contains country-of-origin labeling, primarily for marketing livestock by-products. Second, it proposes a bipartisan food safety commission to review the existing food system and make recommendations for improvements.

The Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, H.R. 2419, passed the House and the Senate in 2007 and is now undergoing final negotiations among the conference members. The conference is led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN). According to an April 28 BNA story (subscription), the leaders expect negotiations on remaining issues to be completed in their next conference meeting, expected to occur April 29, allowing them to write the final version and send it to President Bush by May 6.

One section of the bill amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require country-of-origin labeling for beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and goat meat. The provision defines the conditions that allow retailers to label food products with a U.S. origin label and those that require labeling products from another country. A similar provision requires labeling for seafood products and an indication of whether the fish is farm-raised or wild-caught. Additional country-of-origin labeling applies to macadamia nuts, peanuts, honey, and ginseng.

Pressure to provide country-of-origin labeling is the result of the many imported food recalls over the last few years that have consumers worried about food safety. The number of meat and poultry products has increased dramatically — due both to increased imports and domestic production — but the ability of regulatory agencies to keep up with the increase has lagged well behind.

Another provision of the bill creates a bipartisan food safety commission consisting of 19 members from federal agencies, Congress, consumer groups, public health experts, and agricultural and livestock producers and processors. The primary function of the commission is to produce a report that 1) summarizes information about the U.S. food safety system, and 2) makes recommendations on a variety of ways to improve the system.

The bill is quite specific about the range of statutes, reports, and studies the commission is to review. More importantly, the bill requires the commission to recommend ways 1) to modernize the food safety system, 2) to update and coordinate the various food safety statutes, 3) to emphasize a preventive approach instead of a reactive approach, 4) "to ensure that regulations, directives, guidance, and other standards and requirements are based on best-available science and technology," and 5) to ensure that agencies receive the funding necessary to carry out their regulatory responsibilities.

The Bush administration is opposed to the new reauthorization bill, claiming it is too expensive and maintains too many subsidies to wealthy farmers, according to an April 24 Washington Post story. The White House favors extending the existing farm legislation for one year.