The Food and Drug Administration missed seven deadlines to implement key
food safety regulations, putting millions at risk of getting sick from
tainted food, two nonprofit public interest groups claim in federal
court.
The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Environmental Health sued the heads of the FDA and the Office of Management and Budget in federal court in San Francisco, claiming they failed to issue final regulations for the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).
The act, signed into law by President Obama last January, sought to help prevent food contamination instead of merely containing outbreaks.
The public interest groups say the FDA "has missed not one, not two, but seven critical deadlines, and counting, in failing to implement FSMA's major food safety regulations" (italics in original).
The agency submitted several delayed regulations to the Office of Management and Budget, where they await approval.
But the group's say the FDA can implement the regulations without the office's approval.
"FDA's failure to implement FSMA's critical food safety regulations by their statutory deadlines is an abdication of the agency's fundamental responsibilities," the complaint states.
"Moreover, the agency's unlawful delay is putting millions of lives at risk from contracting foodborne illnesses. This lawsuit seeks to require FDA to immediately promulgate the FSMA regulations required by law and enforce self-executing sections of FSMA even without finalized regulations."
Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/08/31/49868.htm
The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Environmental Health sued the heads of the FDA and the Office of Management and Budget in federal court in San Francisco, claiming they failed to issue final regulations for the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).
The act, signed into law by President Obama last January, sought to help prevent food contamination instead of merely containing outbreaks.
The public interest groups say the FDA "has missed not one, not two, but seven critical deadlines, and counting, in failing to implement FSMA's major food safety regulations" (italics in original).
The agency submitted several delayed regulations to the Office of Management and Budget, where they await approval.
But the group's say the FDA can implement the regulations without the office's approval.
"FDA's failure to implement FSMA's critical food safety regulations by their statutory deadlines is an abdication of the agency's fundamental responsibilities," the complaint states.
"Moreover, the agency's unlawful delay is putting millions of lives at risk from contracting foodborne illnesses. This lawsuit seeks to require FDA to immediately promulgate the FSMA regulations required by law and enforce self-executing sections of FSMA even without finalized regulations."
Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/08/31/49868.htm
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