The recent outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a food-borne illness, has shown we can’t count on the federal government to make sure our food is safe.
States have always played a central role in the safety of our food, tracking pathogens and inspecting food manufacturing facilities, farms and restaurants.
The states have become even more important in recent years, as the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, agencies that have been underfunded for decades, have laid off experienced food safety experts, conducted fewer inspections, tracked fewer pathogens,including cyclospora, and delayed efforts to trace the source of foodborne illnesses.
The states are especially important for the safety of food chemicals.
While states have acted to ban many toxic chemicals from food and food packaging, including chemicals linked to cancer, the FDA has banned just two – and only after states had done so. Some food chemicals have been under review by the FDA for decades.
When it comes to the toxic chemicals in our food, the FDA has a long history of failure.
It has largely allowed food chemical companies to decide which food chemicals are safe and permitted these companies to add new chemicals to food without the FDA’s knowledge.
Now, on behalf of the food industry, some members of Congress want to make things even worse.
It would block states from keeping our food safe, and would do so both retroactively and prospectively. This isn’t just about stopping states from passing new protections. It would also wipe out laws already in effect. In all, the proposal in Congress could preempt more than 100 state laws, including state and local regulations that keep restaurant food safe.
Food companies want to block state laws that:
- Ban PFAS from food packaging and cookware
- Ban BPA and phthalates from food packaging
- Ban synthetic dyes from school foods and lead from lunch boxes
- Define and remove ultra-processed food from school food.
- Require testing and reporting on toxic metals in baby foods.
State and local food labeling laws that apply to food packages and menus, such as allergen warnings, could be blocked. State laws that exempt entrepreneurs who make food at home for sale at farmers markets could be in jeopardy. Enforcement of state laws could also be blocked by the food industry’s proposal, including state laws that allow consumers to sue food companies when they have been injured.
Even state pet food laws could be invalidated.
Blocking our states from keeping our food safe – during the nation’s worst food safety outbreak in years – would be hard to stomach. After four recent food safety failures, including the 2024 McDonald’s e. Coli outbreak and three infant formula recalls, we should be making our food safety laws stronger, not weaker.
