Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5415 To provide the Food and Drug Administration with authority to conduct microbial sampling on concentrated animal feeding operations as nec- essary to facilitate a foodborne illness outbreak investigation, determine the root cause of an outbreak of foodborne illness, or address other public health needs. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 12, 2019 Ms. DELAURO (for herself and Ms. SPEIER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To provide the Food and Drug Administration with authority to conduct microbial sampling on concentrated animal feeding operations as necessary to facilitate a foodborne illness outbreak investigation, determine the root cause of an outbreak of foodborne illness, or address other public health needs. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanded Food Safety 4 Investigation Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Dec 17, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5415.IH H5415 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5415 IH SEC. 2. MICROBIAL SAMPLING ON CONCENTRATED ANIMAL 1 FEEDING OPERATIONS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter IV of the Federal Food, 3 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341 et seq.) is amend- 4 ed by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 424. MICROBIAL SAMPLING ON CONCENTRATED ANI- 6 MAL FEEDING OPERATIONS. 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may request ac- 8 cess to a concentrated animal feeding operation in order 9 to conduct microbial sampling, if the Secretary determines 10 that such microbial sampling is necessary in order to fa- 11 cilitate a foodborne illness outbreak investigation, deter- 12 mine the root cause of an outbreak of foodborne illness, 13 or address other public health needs. 14 ‘‘(b) GRANTING OF REASONABLE ACCESS.—A con- 15 centrated animal feeding operation that receives a request 16 for access under paragraph (a) shall provide reasonable 17 access to the Secretary to conduct such microbial sam- 18 pling, including sampling of plants, animals, water, and 19 the environment, as the Secretary determines appropriate 20 to address the public health need. Such operation may 21 place reasonable conditions on access to the operation, in- 22 cluding by specifying a time, place, and manner for sam- 23 pling, provided that any such conditions do not prevent 24 the Secretary from conducting appropriate sampling with- 25 in a reasonable period of time. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Dec 17, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5415.IH H5415 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5415 IH ‘‘(c) AUTHORITY OVER FOODS REGULATED BY THE 1 SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.—Nothing in this section 2 shall be construed to impose additional requirements by 3 the Secretary, beyond microbial sampling, with respect to 4 food that is within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Ag- 5 riculture pursuant to the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the 6 Poultry Products Inspection Act, or the Egg Products In- 7 spection Act. 8 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PUBLIC HEALTH 9 AGENCIES.—The Secretary shall ensure that data col- 10 lected under this section are made available to the Sec- 11 retary of Agriculture and relevant State and Federal pub- 12 lic health agencies in order to facilitate work in detecting, 13 investigating, or preventing foodborne illness. Nothing in 14 this section shall be construed to limit the rights and ex- 15 emptions otherwise available under section 552 of title 5, 16 United States Code. 17 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘con- 18 centrated animal feeding operation’ has the meaning given 19 such term in section 122.23(b) of title 40, Code of Federal 20 Regulations (or any successor regulations).’’. 21 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 301 of the Federal 22 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 331) is amend- 23 ed by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Dec 17, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5415.IH H5415 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5415 IH ‘‘(fff) The refusal to provide reasonable access for mi- 1 crobial sampling in accordance with section 424.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Dec 17, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5415.IH H5415 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS