Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tn.) announced on Wednesday that a bipartisan bill to improve the quality of food in the United States and better protect Tennessee families has passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, of which he is a member.
Sen. Alexander is an original cosponsor of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act to help prevent food borne illness, and give FDA new, modern authorities to address food safety problems.
The legislation also includes measures from the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act, of which Alexander is the lead Republican sponsor, to provide schools with voluntary guidelines and grants to help prevent and manage allergen exposure in schools.
“This bill will help protect American families by improving and streamlining food safety efforts at the FDA,” Sen. Alexander said. “It also addresses potentially fatal food allergy attacks in our students. This legislation creates a nice balance between putting the spotlight on schools that are doing a good job and giving some grant money to help other schools do a better job of providing voluntary guidelines. And I’d like to thank Trace Adkins for helping focus our attention on this issue.”
Sen. Alexander was joined by country music star Trace Adkins at a Nashville event in June of last year to support food allergy legislation. The bipartisan bill will help prevent food borne illness, and give FDA new, modern authorities to address food safety problems.