Editorial: Safe-food bill major step

Tainted spinach and peanut butter caused nationwide health problems, but only after this summer's great egg scare when a salmonella outbreak sickened thousands and forced the recall of a half-billion eggs did the U.S. Senate finally decide to improve our food safety laws.

The Food Safety Modernization Act passed Tuesday is a fundamental change for the Food and Drug Administration, empowering it to prevent and improve the detection of contaminated food, especially imports, through increased inspections. While our food supply is still very safe, the FDA would be able to issue mandatory recalls to better manage the consequences of an outbreak.

The agency, which has oversight of 80 percent of the food supply, excluding meat and poultry, would be able to increase inspections where food is processed, the usual problem spot. It also would gain greater oversight over foods more likely to cause illness. Even more important, since so much more of our food is imported, the FDA would soon set and enforce standards on how fresh produce is grown abroad. The Senate version of the bill smartly exempts small operators, important to Long Island farmers who sell locally.

Unfortunately, technical glitches in separate bills are likely to require new votes in the House and Senate. It's been 70 years since the FDA's food-safety powers have been updated, Congress shouldn't make us wait any longer. hN