Lawsuit demands implementation of FSMA regulations
The Center for Food Safety and Center for Environmental Health have filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for failing to implement several food safety regulations under the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).
According to a press release from the Center, the Act has been unlawfully delayed for more than a year and a half, “leaving vital prevention remedies to substandard U.S. food safety rules unenforceable, and the nation’s public health in jeopardy.”
“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,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety. “The American people shouldn’t have to wait another second for safer food policies that are already law.”
The Center cites recent food safety illness episodes including a current one relating to salmonella from Indiana-based cantaloupe that has resulted in two deaths and more than 200 illnesses in 22 states as all the more reason to implement regulations mandated by the law.
The lawsuit seeks a court order that requires FDA to enact the FSMA regulations by a court-imposed deadline and prevents OMB from delaying FDA’s compliance with that deadline.
The Center for Food Safety is a national, non-profit membership organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture.
The mission of the Center for Environmental Health is to protect the public from toxic chemicals and promote business products and practices that are safe for public health and the environment.
