Daily Archives: January 9, 2011

New law passed to promote food safety, prevent food poisoning

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was given the charge to make food in the United States safer under a new law that was passed this month. The law was signed with the hopes that the government can reduce illness, injury and death from food poisoning. Public advocates warn that our food supply is plagued by dangerous germs, usually bacteria, that cause food poisonings on a regular basis. They say that manufacturers and large industries don’t take the proper precautions to watch out for the safety of consumers. For example, the new law gives the FDA the right to force a company to issue a dangerous product recall if their food does not meet safety inspections. Prior to this law, it was left up to the company to decide on a recall. Advocates say that those decisions were often slow or prevented altogether due to financial reasons without regard to public health. They note that despite the constant news of more food recalls recently, there are many more dangerous food products that should be recalled but aren’t. Personal injury lawyers explain that the decision to recall a product or not is often made on the basis of the financial repercussions. A New York law firm explains that this is a form of negligence. For example, legal and marketing teams may weigh the chances of a lawsuit against the cost of recalling whole lots of their contaminated products. Unfortunately, there are some critics of the new law that worry about the FDA’s ability to enforce it. They say there’s not enough money in the budget to properly enforce the new safety standards and safety decisions may still be left up to large corporations. If you or someone you know has suffered due to the negligence of a company’s inaction, you have the right to consult with a top attorney. You can read up on details of the new food safety law here.