Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, First Step Towards Protecting Pets, and Us, From Tainted Foods

This is great news! We are pleased to announce that we have the first new law passed that will help with the pet food problems.

H.R. 3580, in conference, was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President.

In particular, it is Title X (the last section), that has bearing on our issues.

This new law mandates the FDA come up with new labeling and production standards for pet food within 24 months. It also requires that the FDA set up a pet food registry and notification process similar to the one the CDC uses for human pathogens.

We still have more work to do, in particular regarding foreign import restrictions, but this is the FIRST MAJOR STEP.

You can view the bill here: H.R. 3580

Specifically, TITLE X - FOOD SAFETY, Sec. 1002 pertains to pet food. The rest of this part of the bill addresses various other aspects of food safety, inspection and reporting standards, communication and reporting requirements, and a Reportable Food Registry that requires the responsible party to register, within 24 hours, any food item that has a reasonable probability of any sort of health concerns.

It isn't perfect, but it's a HUGE step in the right direction. At least now there is a protocol for how these things are handled and reported, so hopefully situations like the recent pet food recalls will not get out of hand as before. Good to see that our government does do some good things now and again.

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