Food Traceability Enhancement Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Health.
Food Traceability Enhancement Act
This bill modifies requirements relating to recordkeeping and traceability of foods that may cause outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.
Specifically, the bill reduces the maximum time for which food manufacturers or processors must retain records of high-risk foods (i.e., those that are prone to causing outbreaks of foodborne illnesses) from two years to one year. It also specifies that recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods may not require restaurants, retail food establishments, or related warehouses to keep or share information about traceability lot codes.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must conduct pilot projects with members of the retail food industry to evaluate the effectiveness of investigations of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses without using traceability lot codes, as well as the feasibility of using low-cost food tracing technologies. The bill also specifies that the FDA's rule titled Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods , which was published on November 21, 2022, may not be implemented until two years after the pilot projects are completed (the rule establishes the recordkeeping requirements for manufacturers or processors of high-risk foods, which include keeping and sharing traceability lot codes).
The FDA must also report on any barriers that prevent the FDA from sharing information with the retail food industry about investigations into outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.
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 6, 2024. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 8, 2024: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
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 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, 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?
Scott Franklin (R-FL) introduced it on March 6, 2024, and 18 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 6 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 6, 2024, 918 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 916 days ago, on March 8, 2024.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 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
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers