File this under, ‘It’s about time!” The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that will require more food safety measures. It will give more power to the FDA in demanding recalls and creating a better product tracing solution. More inspections of food processors are anticipated, stiffer penalties will be imposed for violations of food safety practices. This bill, in short, provides a host of measures all aimed at decreasing the rate at which Americans are sickened each year by tainted foods. How many people are we talking about? According to this article about the new House bill: The government estimates that 76 million people each year are sickened by food-borne illness, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and around 5,000 die.

Of special interest here is the FDA’s role in devising the tracing system. Given the FDA’s current involvement in defining a UDI (unique device identification) standard for medical devices, and the FDA’s active participation in various GS1 forums, isn’t there is a strong likelihood GS1 will be seriously considered as a food product identification standard for the purpose of track and tracing objectives.

None of the new measures are law yet. A Senate version is still in the works and ultimately both chambers have to agree. But this is an important first step in the right direction, wouldn’t you agree?

Related posts:

  1. U.S. Government's New Food Safety Panel Sets New Rules: Trace and Track
  2. GS1 Comes Up in Debate over House Subcommittee Hearing on Food Safety
  3. Will it take an Act of Congress to make Drugs Safe?
  4. A Succinct Paragraph on GS1 Barcode Labels for Patient Safety
  5. GS1 Hong Kong Launches Consumer Product Authentication Solution