Agriculture Appropriations Bill Adds Funds for FSMA Implementation

In the Agriculture Appropriations bill included in the Omnibus that was approved last week, a number of food industry programs received funding, with a total of $21.75 billion in discretionary funding – $925 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level and $34 million below the President’s budget request – for these programs. This level reflects the increased domestic discretionary funding provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which was enacted on November 2.

Among these were:

• The FDA receives a total of $2.72 billion in discretionary funding in the bill, an increase of $132 million over the fiscal year 2015 enacted level and $14 million below the President’s budget request. Total funding for the FDA, including revenue from user fees, is $4.68 billion. Within this total, food safety activities are increased by $104.5 million, and various medical product safety activities – including additional funds for the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria initiative, orphan product development grants, foreign high-risk inspections, and precision medicine – are increased by over $24.3 million.
• The legislation includes more than $1 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, $1.6 million below the fiscal year 2015 enacted level and $3.3 million above the President’s request. These mandatory inspection activities help ensure the safety and productivity of the country’s $186 billion meat and poultry industry, and keep safe food on American tables. This funding will maintain more than 8,000 frontline inspection personnel for meat, poultry, and egg products at more than 6,400 facilities across the country.
• The legislation also included several policy provisions, including: - A provision repealing mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements for certain meat products. The current requirement is in violation of World Trade Organization trade standards, and would have resulted in trade retaliation by other nations if continued – negatively impacting the U.S. economy by more than $1 billion.

While resources are provided to fully fund the President's budget request for FSMA implementation, the Congressional directive is also requiring that FDA provide quarterly reports to the committees with a breakdown on how funding has been allocated, as well as projections for future needs; provide a detailed accounting of its food safety resources in the fiscal year 2017 budget request; and provide a detailed explanation of what it has accomplished with increased food safety resources since fiscal year 2011, and how resources for food safety will be used in fiscal year 2017.

View the House Appropriations Committee Summary Report or Full Report.