The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has hit out against the possibility of new food legislation being put in place.
More than 220 state and local food safety and labeling laws – including restaurant hygiene codes, milk pasteurization requirements, and even some states’ warnings to pregnant women about drinking alcohol – would be killed if a controversial bill before the Senate becomes law, the CSPI said in a recent statement.


The National Uniformity for Food Act will be the subject of a hearing in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) later this month.
“While the bill purports to bring about uniformity between Food and Drug Administration regulations and various state laws, its sponsors’ real target is California’s Proposition 65, which requires warnings on products with ingredients that cause cancer or birth defects,” the organization said.
“However, many important food-safety functions are primarily carried about by local and state governments, and CSPI says this overly broad bill would eliminate those statutes as well. The fallout from this attack on California’s Proposition 65 could be the destruction of hundreds of other state and local food safety and labeling laws in every state.”
The bill is opposed by many governors, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, state attorneys general, state agricultural and food safety officials, and numerous other public health and environmental groups.