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NASDA calls for funding to implement food safety law

 

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) is calling on Congress to adequately fund implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA).

The law is intended to improve the safety and security of the nation’s food supply, focusing on prevention of foodborne illness. It was passed in 2010, but Nebraska director of agriculture and NASDA president Greg Ibach says implementation of the law has been a slow process.

“States are struggling to understand and FDA is struggling to craft and Congress is struggling to fund,” Ibach says, “and that’s going to impact farmers and ranchers, not only from the food side, but from the feed production side as well.”

Part of the law requires FDA to create new rules for animal feed production which, in most cases, is under the jurisdiction of state departments of agriculture. NASDA seeks clarification on staffing levels, training and laboratory needs, and educational efforts that the new rules will require.

AUDIO: Greg Ibach

Link to NASDA letter to Senate appropriators on FSMA funding