Food Safety Proposal in Senate Would Enable Forced Recalls

Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), sponsored the measure, the first since President Barack Obama offered a budget proposal last week allocating $1 billion to strengthen food safety.

“Over the last year, we’ve seen major recalls of peanut butter spiked with salmonella, spinach laced with e-coli and chili loaded with botulism,” Durbin said at a news conference. “These are not isolated incidents and are the result of an outdated, underfunded and overwhelmed food-safety system.”

The measure, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, is one of several competing proposals being developed by lawmakers to rework food regulation and oversight. The approach that wins out will reshape the $646 billion U.S. food industry.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending

More from our partners