Each year, bad food sickens about one in six Americans. Proposed new rules aim to improve food safety. Officials say the changes could prevent more than one million cases of food-related illnesses each year. The new rules were proposed this month, exactly two years after President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act. The rules are the first step in putting the law into effect, making the biggest changes in food safety since the 1930s. The law makes the Food and Drug Administration responsible for preventing food-related illnesses. Experts say this is a change from the role that the FDA has played in the past in reacting to disease outbreaks  . Congress passed the law after a series of outbreaks linked to bagged spinach, peanut butter and other foods. Margaret Hamburg is commissioner of the FDA. "They occurred because of problems that would have been solved by these kinds of approaches. So I think, you know>> we're very optimistic that we will begin to see the real change. " The agency is proposing to require food manufacturers to show that they have identified   where contamination   is most likely to happen. Manufacturers would also have to show that they have taken steps to prevent it. The proposed rules also deal with safety in growing and harvesting fruits and vegetables. Caroline Smith DeWaal is director for food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. She says the rules should have been released a year ago. And she notes, "The bigger question is, where are the rules on imports   that haven't been released yet?" The FDA says about 15 percent of food eaten by Americans is imported, and that share is growing. Rules have not been released yet to require imported foods to meet the same standards as food produced in the United States. Caroline thinks the new rules are   _  .
far from satisfaction coming soon made perfect a little late