<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  The week&amp;#039;s cheese recall was just one more entry in the long list of recalls that occurred in this year alone. This list hasn&amp;#039;t gone unnoticed by the government. After a long bout of discussions and postponing, the Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) passed in the senate with a 73-25 victory. The bill is meant to help lessen if not eliminate risks like those feared in this week&amp;#039;s cheese, this month&amp;#039;s turkeys, and many, many other past foods subject to recall. Authors Michael Pollan, The Omnivores Dilemma, and Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in favor of the bill, stating that it is &amp;quot;the best opportunity in a generation to improve the safety of the American food supply.&amp;quot; But what exactly would it do? The bill is designed to protect people from tainted food by increasing food facility inspections, requiring them to have food safety plans, hold imported food to the same standards as domestic food, and give the FDA mandatory recall authority. Meaning they would be able to test for pathogens and recall contaminated foods. The FDA would be able to intervene in food safety issues before anyone had been reported as ill. These food facilities include any factory, warehouse or establishment that produces, packs or stores food. It does not include restaurants. Amendments were considered and decided upon last night including on controversial amendment added by Senator Jon Tester of Montana, which, under certain circumstances, exempts small farms and producers from the bill. That is not to say that these smaller farms and producers would go ungoverned. They would continue to be regulated under the usual state and local laws. Those against the bill are afraid that it will not be effective and will just result in higher food costs. They are also not fans of the $1.4 billion that the bill&amp;#039;s five-year plan requires. Those for it believe that it will prevent the large number of food recalls we have seen in the past few years and address health and safety concerns of food production. This victory for the bill doesn&amp;#039;t mean it is solidified yet. It could still die. There may not be enough time left in the session for the Senate and the House of Representatives (which passed their own version of the bill last year) to haggle-we mean hammer - out the details. But some top house democrats have said that they will pass the Senate&amp;#039;s version of the bill in order to speed things up. Do you agree with Pollan and Schlosser? Would this overhaul help fix a broken system? Or will we forever be wary of our spinach regardless of what the government does? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a38307/senate-passes-food-safety-bill/>