PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Oct 7, 2004
Safe Food Act of 2004 - Establishes the Food Safety Administration to administer and enforce food safety laws. Directs the Administrator of the Food Safety Administration to: (1) promulgate regulations to ensure the security of the food supply from all forms of contamination; (2) implement Federal food safety inspection, enforcement, and research efforts to protect the public health; (3) develop consistent and science-based standards for safe food; (4) coordinate and prioritize food safety research and education programs with other Federal agencies; (5) prioritize Federal food safety efforts and deployment of resources to achieve the greatest possible benefit in reducing food-borne illness; (6) coordinate the Federal response to food-borne illness outbreaks with other Federal and State agencies; and (7) integrate Federal food safety activities with State and local agencies.
Transfers to the Administration all functions of specified Federal agencies that relate to the administration or enforcement of food safety laws, including (1) the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture; and (2) the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine of the Food and Drug Administration.
Requires the Administrator to: (1) administer a national food safety program based on an analysis of the hazards associated with different food and the processing of different food; (2) establish standards for processors of food and food establishments; (3) establish a certification system for foreign governments or food establishments seeking to import food to the United States; (4) establish requirements for tracing food and food producing animals from point of origin to retail sale; (5) maintain an active surveillance system of food, food products, and epidemiological evidence; (6) establish a sampling system to monitor contaminants in food; (7) rank and analyze hazards in the food supply; (8) establish a national public education campaign on food safety; and (9) conduct research relating to food safety.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Sets forth provisions regarding prohibited acts, administrative detention, condemnation, temporary holds, recall, penalties for violations of food safety laws, whistle blower protection, and civil actions.
People & committees
Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] · D–IL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S10704-10705)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 18, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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