A salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,500 people and led to the recall of 550 million eggs highlights the need for Congress to pass legislation that would empower the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better protect the food supply, advocates say.

Leading food safety advocacy groups in Washington are calling on the Senate to take up the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) as soon as possible, citing the need for a preventative approach to food safety in the wake of the massive salmonella outbreak and egg recall. The Senate returned to Washington Sept. 13 after its five-week summer recess.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) published a study Sept. 8 finding that 85 food recalls have sickened at least 1,850 people since July 30, 2009, the day the House passed H.R. 2749, its version of food safety reform legislation. The vast majority of the illnesses have been linked to the salmonella outbreak. Eight other recalls have been linked to between one and 272 illnesses each, according to the study. The remaining recalls have not been linked to any illnesses.

The groups say that the continued occurrence of foodborne illness outbreaks proves the need for a food safety reform bill that would give FDA more regulatory tools to prevent future outbreaks. "We need this food safety reform legislation so that the FDA can focus on preventing contamination in the first place—before the food ends up in Americans’ cupboards and refrigerators," said Elizabeth Hitchcock of U.S. PIRG in a release from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The study looked only at FDA-regulated products. FDA regulates 80 percent of the food Americans eat, including produce, nuts, spices, cheese, and fish. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates meat and poultry products. The two agencies share responsibility for egg safety.

Both the House and Senate food safety bills aim to prevent food contamination by requiring facilities to maintain food safety plans, with an emphasis on prevention, and enabling FDA to inspect food facilities more frequently. In the event of contamination or suspected contamination, both bills would give FDA the power to order mandatory recalls, an authority the agency does not currently possess. Both bills would also require the FDA to improve the traceability of foods to help investigators link contaminated food to processors, farms, and other facilities.

A July 2009 regulation meant to prevent salmonella contamination in eggs did not take effect until July 2010, after the eggs subject to the current recall had been laid. FDA has acknowledged that the rule, proposed in 2004 but delayed for years by the George W. Bush administration, could have helped the agency prevent the outbreak and the subsequent recall.

As the groups point out, food safety regulation, like many other forms of federal regulation, is too often reactive and does not adequately focus on preventing problems or mitigating risk. A reactive philosophy makes the public too susceptible to tragedies like the salmonella outbreak, the BP oil spill disaster, the Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 in April, and other regulatory failures.

A common thread among those tragedies has been the inability of regulators to police firms with well-known health and safety problems, such as BP and Massey Energy, the owner of the Upper Big Branch mine. A Washington Post investigation uncovered a comparably negligent record at DeCoster Farms, the owner of Wright County Egg in Iowa, which is responsible for the majority of the eggs in the recall. DeCoster has been cited for occupational safety, fair labor, and environmental violations by both federal and state regulators.

Another food safety problem is industry influence that permeates the food safety regulatory system, according to a new report. The Union of Concerned Scientists surveyed more than 1,700 scientists at the FDA and USDA. According to UCS, 38 percent of respondents said that "public health has been harmed by agency practices that defer to business interests," and 25 percent said they had experienced an incident in which corporate influence weakened a consumer protection.

UCS is also calling for passage of food safety reform in the Senate. The survey shows that federal food safety scientists overwhelmingly support some of the bill’s provisions. Seventy-three percent of respondents said they support an electronic trace back system, and 75 percent said they support increased inspections.

Critics also say that better coordination is needed among food safety officials. Two former Wright County Egg employees told the Associated Press that they reported unsanitary conditions, including mishandled manure and dead chickens, to USDA inspectors but were ignored. It does not appear as though the complaints made their way to FDA.

In the past, food safety experts have called on the government to fold the responsibilities of the USDA, and other agencies operating on the periphery of food safety, into the FDA, or a new agency entirely, creating a master food safety regulator. Neither the House nor the Senate bill would make such a change.

According to the UCS survey, many federal scientists would support consolidating the agencies' responsibilities. Forty-one percent of survey respondents said consolidation would improve food safety, while 25 percent said it would worsen food safety. "Fifteen percent predicted no significant change in food safety from such a reform and 18 percent said they didn’t know," according to UCS.

S. 510 is one of several pressing matters on the Senate’s agenda, but Senate leaders have yet to indicate a timeline for the bill. If the Senate passes the bill before adjourning ahead of November’s midterm elections, it would have to be reconciled with the House version, and each chamber would have to schedule another vote before the president could sign it. The House may adjourn for midterm elections as early as Oct. 1. Lawmakers could also work on the bill in the lame-duck period following the elections.