What would you do if you came to a traffic light with all three lights illuminated? Would you stop because the light is red, proceed with caution because it?s yellow or breeze through because it?s green?
Consumers in the United States are faced with a similarly daunting challenge as they attempt to navigate the safety warnings about the foods we eat. These warnings vary from state to state and, as if that weren?t confusing enough, in some cases they even conflict with one another. And just like traffic lights, they give consumers unclear messages about which foods are safe for them to consume and which are not.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the traffic cop in our scenario, has the authority to issue food safety regulations. This is one of the agency?s key missions, and it attracts the best scientists and researchers in the nation to do so. However, states have the potential to usurp that authority and pass additional, often superfluous safety restrictions that unnecessarily burden the manufacturer and, more importantly, confuse the consumer.
The Food and Drug Administration, with its scientific expertise and national mandate, should be the entity determining which foods are safe to consume and which necessitate a safety warning ? not state governments, politicians or the agendas of special interest groups. The FDA?s guidelines are what already give us uniform labeling on the nutrition content of the foods we eat and consistent warnings on the over-the-counter medicines we take. Their recommendations should also be what alerts us to potential risks concerning the safety of the foods we consume and additives in those foods.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a uniform food labeling bill ? The National Uniformity for Food Act ? which would alleviate much of the confusion associated with food safety warnings today and would set uniform, national standards on food safety. The legislation would apply the best national standards to packaged food similar to those regulations already in place for milk, poultry and all meat including pork. The Senate version of the bill was introduced in May.
Because the measure calls for national standards that incorporate current state and federal regulations, it preserves both the state and federal roles in protecting consumers and providing adequate public safety warnings.
The measure also serves to rein in some of the out-of-control, burdensome regulations being enacted or proposed in some states.
New Mexico is currently considering a measure that would ban aspartame in that state, and along with it diet soda, yogurt and a host of other foods. Scientific evidence has proven that aspartame is safe for consumers, and New Mexico would be acting impulsively.
The bill will bring states, and American consumers, onto the same page when it comes to food safety warnings. At the same time, the measure preserves a state?s ability to act on imminent health hazards such as accidental adulteration, contamination or bioterrorist threats affecting the food supply. It also allows for state law to prevail in an instance where the FDA has not yet ruled on the safety question at hand. In cases where state regulations are stricter than the FDA?s, the measure allows states to petition to have their standards added to the current federal standard. Finally, the measure allows for exemptions from the national standards in the instance of locally unique foods, like the alewives fish in Maine, which are not found nationally.
The United States is a national market. We need national safety standards to inform and protect consumers. The House-passed bill provides for those standards, and goes to great lengths to preserve states? roles in the consumer protection arena. Last month, 283 members of the House of Representatives agreed that it?s time for national food safety standards. Among those were Maryland Congressmen Wayne Gilchrest, R-01, Dutch Ruppersberger, D-02, Albert Wynn, D-04, and Roscoe Bartlett, R-06.
We?re confident that our U.S. senators will realize the need for these standards as well. American consumers are at the traffic light, and they?re waiting for a clear signal.
Tom Saquella is president of the Maryland Retailers Association. He can be reached at [email protected].
