Center for Food Safety Sues FDA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Center for Food Safety (CFS) announced it filed suit in federal court against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on August 30 for what CFS says is the federal agencies' failure to implement several critical food safety regulations required by the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).

Signed into law by President Obama in January 2011, the Act, CFS says, has been unlawfully delayer for more than a year and a half, leaving vital prevention remedies to substandard U.S. food safety rules unenforceable. The CFS warns for these reasons, "the nation's public health is in jeopardy."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in six Americans (48 million) becomes ill from foodborne diseases each year. FSMA targets a range of necessary preventative measures that would work to reduce the impact of many illnesses caused by U.S. foodborne hazards, CFS said.

"If the Obama Administration has lost the political will to make FSMA a reality, we're here to help them find it," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of CFS. "It's a disgrace that a crucial, lifesaving law sits idle while the bureaucracies of FDA and OMB grind along without a hint of results. The American people shouldn't have to wait another second for safer food policies that are already law."

Read the full statement from the Center for Food Safety here.