000745 Agriculture Appropriations Bill Passes in the House

Washington - By a vote of 339-82, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4461, the Agriculture Appropriations bill. The bill -- which covers appropriations for food-related activities by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- included a number of priorities advocated by NFPA during the appropriations process.

One key item in the bill included a call for FDA to unify inter-agency efforts, particularly with USDA to address regulation of biotech foods. The House bill calls on FDA to unify inter-agency efforts, particularly with USDA, to address regulation of biotech foods. The bill also provided $1 million to FDA for pre-market food additive reviews to “analyze risks associated with emerging biotech foods and develop criteria for evaluating the safety of biotech foods used in animal feeds.”

The House report to accompany H.R. 4461 also included policy directives advocated by NFPA. The report directs FDA to comply with the 97' FDA Modernization Act, to make a final rule by September 2001 prescribing alternative truthful and non-misleading irradiation disclosures. The report endorses FSIS's proposed implementation of daily, unscheduled inspection in processing establishments, and directs FSIS to report by January 31, 2001 on other means of “enhancing inspection efficiency.”

The report also requires FSIS to report by November 2000 on Pathogen Reduction/HACCP regulations and revisions/removal of those regulations in the wake of HACCP implementation. The report also directs FDA to report and explain the basis for treating dietary supplements and conventional foods differently as it implements the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Pearson v. Shalala.

In keeping with NFPA's prior advocacy efforts, the legislation rejected any new unauthorized user fees for either USDA or FDA that were proposed by the Administration. It further rejected expanded USDA/FDA enforcement powers. No amendments were offered to expand enforcement authority -- such as civil monetary penalties or mandatory recall authority. NFPA will continue to organize opposition to such amendments if they arise during Senate consideration of the bill.

Brian Folkerts, NFPA's VP of Government Affairs, said, “NFPA applauds the passage of H.R. 4461. This bill includes many of NFPA's priorities and we look forward to Senate consideration of the bill next week.”

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