(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in response to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcing a series of reforms to strengthen its food safety program following unacceptable, longstanding failures.
“The infant formula crisis last year was just the latest alarming example of how much is at stake for families when it comes to ensuring our food is safe to consume. I have been pushing the FDA to address the longstanding dysfunction in its food safety program, and while there is certainly more work to be done, these commonsense reforms are an important, overdue step in the right direction,” said Senator Murray. “I’m encouraged by the FDA’s decision to implement reforms proposed after an external review by an FDA watchdog, but I am not done pushing for progress here. I’ll be following closely to make sure these reforms are implemented in a timely and effective way, and built on with additional robust steps that give peace of mind to families in Washington state, and across the country, when they gather around the dinner table or buy the infant formula they need.”
Senator Murray has been pressing FDA to address longstanding issues with its food safety program. She sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Califf last spring calling for a plan to address dysfunction in the agency’s food safety program, and she also raised her frustration and concerns with Dr. Califf directly during a HELP hearing, which she chaired on the infant formula shortage crisis.
The new reforms from the FDA, which were informed by a recent internal review and the recommendations recently made in a report by the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA after its external evaluation of the food safety program, include:
- Establishing a Human Foods Program that will bring together different food safety, response, and policy functions from across the agency;
- Creating a leadership role— the Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods—to oversee the new program;
- Creating a Center for Excellence in Nutrition to help advance healthier, more nutritious food products;
- Establishing a Human Foods Advisory Committee of external experts to provide the agency with outside expertise and advice;
- Other actions that protect and promote a safe, nutritious U.S. food supply.
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