Last week, the House of Representatives gave final approval to a landmark food safety bill designed to bring an archaic system for protecting the nation's food supply into the 21st Century and equip the Food and Drug Administration with more muscle to monitor a complex supply chain that stretches around the world.
President Obama is scheduled to sign the measure into law early in the new year.
However, the implementation of the historic effort may run into trouble over a familiar problem -- money.
The current legislation does not establish a secure funding system, and Republicans, who gained control of the House and expanded their numbers in the Senate in November, have made shrinking government spending a top priority.
Already, some conservative Republicans have complained the FDA has failed to use existing authority prudently and warned about regulatory overreach.
That, coupled with a dismal economic outlook, has food safety supporters worried about a tough slog to get Congress to approve the estimated $1.4 billion needed during the next five years to hire new inspectors and pay for other mandates in the bill.
"In a bad economy, with the kind of budget constraints we're going to be under, I think that's a risk," said William Marler, a food safety attorney from Seattle who represents people sickened by tainted food. "I think it's going to be all about whether the coalition that pushed this bill through is going to be able to stick together for more money."
That coalition is unusually broad, made up not only of food safety and consumer groups, but also major food industry lobbying groups, like the Grocery Marketers Association and United Fresh Produce Association, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Food interests have been hit hard by the cost of massive recalls involving spinach, peanuts, eggs and, most recently alfalfa sprouts in Illinois. Many companies in the industry have accepted greater government regulation as the price for fewer recalls and improved consumer confidence.
But some members of the informal coalition clearly are uneasy about handing more power to federal regulators.
The Chamber of Commerce, for example, offered only a fretful endorsement of the bill, saying in a letter to lawmakers that it was "troubled by ... the very broad delegation of discretionary power to FDA" and was counting on Congress to "vigorously oversee" the agency.
"It's a very unusual situation to have both consumers and the private sector pulling in the same direction," said David Acheson, the FDA's top food safety official until mid-2009. "It's going to be interesting to see if that coalition can hold together."
A similarly broad-based coalition, dubbed the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, has already succeeded in getting Congress to boost funding for food safety programs at FDA by nearly $400 million in the past three years, a recognition that the food regulatory side of the agency had been starved for years.
"The challenge is going to be whether there's any more money to be had, given the economy," Acheson said.
Funding for the bill will have to pass through the House Appropriations Committee, whose incoming leader, Hal Rogers, R-Ky., voted for a House-authored version of food safety legislation in 2009 but has committed himself to "cutting spending, bringing down record deficits and reining in out of control agencies."
A spokeswoman for the Republican side declined to comment on Rogers' views on food safety funding.
While the budget picture is murky at best, FDA is expected to come under more scrutiny from House overseers who have been skeptical of how the agency has used its powers.
Illinois sprouts linked to salmonella
Due to a recent outbreak of salmonella infections traced to Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches restaurants, alfalfa sprouts have been pulled from local sandwich shops' menus as a precautionary measure.
However, there have been no reports of any related illnesses in La Salle, Grundy, Livingston or Bureau counties, according to the Illinois Department of Health.
The latest update from the IDPH said many people who have became ill recently with salmonella food poisoning reported eating alfalfa sprouts at Jimmy John's food outlets in Adams, Champaign, Cook, DuPage, Kankakee, Lake, Macon, McHenry, McLean, Peoria, and Winnebago counties.
Since November, the IDPH has confirmed 50 Illinois residents and one Wisconsin resident with salmonella after eating at a Jimmy John's.
Jimmy John Liautaud, founder and CEO of Jimmy John s Gourmet Sandwiches, sent a notice last week to each Illinois franchise explaining details about the outbreak. At that time, he requested all outlets to pull sprouts off the menu "as a precautionary measure" until the state completes its investigation.
Liautaud said his company is working closely with public health agencies and he praised state inspectors for helping track down the origins of the outbreak.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised the public Tuesday not to eat alfalfa sprouts produced by the Tiny Greens Organic Farm in Urbana, because of possible salmonella contamination. The warning issued earlier this week also includes a mix called Spicy Sprouts, which also contains radish and clover sprouts.
The sprouts were distributed to various customers, including farmers' markets, restaurants and groceries, in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and possibly other Midwestern states.
Tiny Greens owner Bill Bagby Jr. said Tuesday not one sample of his product taken by health authorities has come back positive for salmonella contamination.
Symptoms of illness caused by salmonella include diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps. Illness usually develops within six to 72 hours after being exposed to salmonella bacteria. The spread of the disease from person to person may be avoided by regular hand washing with soap and hot water, particularly after using the restroom.
