Safe FEAST Act of 2009
Latest action. Executive Comment Requested from HHS, USDA.
Safe Food Enforcement, Assessment, Standards, and Targeting Act of 2009 or the Safe FEAST Act of 2009 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to expand the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) to regulate food, including by authorizing the Secretary to: (1) suspend the registration of a food facility; and (2) order a cessation of distribution, or a recall, of food.
Requires each food facility to evaluate hazards and implement preventive controls.
Directs the Secretary to allocate inspection resources based on the risk profile of food facilities or food.
Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare the National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy.
Directs the Secretary to assess and collect fees related to: (1) food facility reinspection; (2) food recalls; and (3) the voluntary qualified importer program.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) recognize bodies that accredit food testing laboratories; (2) identify preventive programs and practices to promote the safety and security of food; and (3) improve the capacity of the Secretary to track and trace raw agricultural commodities.
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems.
Provides for: (1) foreign supplier verification activities; (2) a voluntary qualified importer program; and (3) the inspection of foreign facilities registered to import food.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 5, 2009. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Executive Comment Requested from HHS, USDA.
Civibrief does not map this action to a stage in the process. See the official record.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on April 23, 2009: Executive Comment Requested from HHS, USDA.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jim Costa (D-CA) introduced it on March 5, 2009, and 30 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 18 Democrats, 12 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 5, 2009, 6398 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 6349 days ago, on April 23, 2009.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseExecutive Comment Requested from HHS, USDA.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action