Food safety bill resurrected by Senate

That food safety bill, hung up in the Senate by a pesky little overreaching of that bothersome old Constitution thingy, sprang to life Sunday on a surprising voice vote.

It seems an earlier Senate version of the bill included some revenue raising measures, which, according to the Constitution, must originate in the House of Representatives, as noted here Sunday.

That niggling little clerical error was pared away and the $1.4 billion bill was sent to the House where it is expected to pass and be signed into law by the president.

The Washington Post reports today:

“Unlike the current system, which relies on government inspectors catching contamination, the new measure would require manufacturers and farmers to come up with strategies to prevent contamination and then continually test to make sure they work.

“It also would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to recall food; now, it must rely on food companies to voluntarily pull products off the shelves. And, the bill would give the FDA access to internal records at farms and food-production facilities.”

Pay no attention to the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unlawful search and seizure nor the Fifth Amendment’s right to not incriminate oneself, those 2,000 new food inspectors will be looking out for you. Just like all those TSA guys at the airport who have yet to catch a single terrorist.