On Wednesday, 03/24/10, US Senator Jon Tester (MT) introduced the Meat Safety and Accountability Act. According to the senator's news release, the bill will "significantly improve the ability to trace the original source of contaminated meat."Tester's news release reports that current law only requires trace backs to processing plants or butcher shops. Yet much contamination can occur earlier in the supply chain--like at a slaughterhouse.
Tester's bill requires the US Food Safety and Inspection Service to use its current, existing budget to design and put in place a new "initiative" that will trace back tainted meat to the original source of contamination. "The bill also improves testing at meat suppliers and individual meat processors in the case of an outbreak."
In the news release Tester states that the goal of the legislation is to hold the right people accountable when there are food-borne illness outbreaks. Tester states in the news release,
"This bill puts more common sense and fairness into the equation as our food travels through the supply chain to the kitchen table. . . This bill will make our food safer to eat by ramping up accountability. And it will help small meat processors in rural America that too often get blamed for contamination that didn't begin with them."
Tester's bill is now heading to the Senate Agriculture Committee.
To read the news release from Tester's office, click here.
To view the legislation click here.
Posted: 03/26/10
