Federal bill threatens states' food-safety laws

The food industry presses for the change, which is being denounced.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
WASHINGTON -- Consumer groups are fighting federal legislation giving Washington veto power over food-safety laws in the states.
They say more than 200 such state laws -- ranging from those prohibiting sales of raw milk to warnings about eating raw seafood -- would be wiped away by the legislation.
The food industry, which is pushing for the change, says the measure aims to establish a unified national policy for food labeling by requiring states to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for any food-safety laws.
The measure is already co-sponsored by 226 members of the House, and is expected to pass when it comes up for a vote. But state prosecutors and food inspectors are launching a last-minute lobbying blitz to try to scuttle it before it becomes law.
Beneficial law
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, one of 37 state attorneys general who are opposed to the legislation, said the new federal law would undercut landmark California legislation requiring food manufacturers to declare any cancer-causing or birth-defect-causing substances in their products.
"I think it's disgraceful," Lockyer said. He said the California law, the product of Proposition 65 that voters adopted in 1986, has been used to prevent sales of lead-laden candy to children, lead in calcium supplements, and arsenic in bottled water. He said one of the greatest impacts of California's law has been behind the scenes, as manufacturers have voluntarily changed the makeup of products to avoid a label that would hurt sales.
"I think this law has been very, very helpful," he said.
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, representing food inspectors, says that giving the FDA broader authority would weaken states' enforcement abilities. States conduct more than 80 percent of inspections and local enforcement, including provisions governing sales of raw milk. There is no federal prohibition against sales of raw milk in the states.
Wiped away
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington interest group, released this week a list of more than 200 state laws the group said could be wiped away by the federal legislation.
Included on the list are Florida's laws alerting consumers to the dangers of eating raw shellfish, New Hampshire laws requiring maple syrup sold in that state to be made only from the sap of maple trees, New Jersey laws prohibiting the sale of candy with small amounts of alcohol to children, Colorado and Texas statutes limiting the amounts of coloring and additives in foods, and an Alabama law setting minimum nutritional standards for grits.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association charged that opponents are whipping up a campaign of misinformation, and said the legislation is intended only to establish national standards.