Florez moves to ban antibiotics from meat, poultry
Senate also passes measure to authorize mandatory food recalls, plant shut-downs

SACRAMENTO – A measure by Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) to phase out the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics in animals meant for human consumption passed the Senate Food and Agriculture Committee today by a vote of 3-1.

Another bill by Florez to bolster the state’s food safety system, based on two years of oversight hearings into repeated food-borne disease outbreaks, also passed the committee today.

Antibiotic resistant infections are on the rise nationwide, and many believe the use of antibiotics as a feed additive given daily to healthy animals is contributing to the trend.  Concerned that the effect may be particularly harmful to the bodies of small children, Florez made school meal programs the initial target of Senate Bill 416.

Under SB 416, schools could not serve meat or poultry treated with non-therapeutic antibiotics after January 1, 2012.  By 2015, the ban on non-therapeutic antibiotics would apply to any animal raised for human consumption in the state. 

“We tell people to take antibiotics only as prescribed for the very reason that they not develop resistance to these drugs they may need when they are truly sick,” Florez said, “Then we feed those same antibiotics daily to the animals they will consume.  It just doesn’t make any sense to take this gamble with the long-term health of our communities.” 

Supporters of the legislation echoed many of Florez’s concerns.

“In using non-therapeutic antibiotics on livestock, we are immobilizing our first line of defense against food-borne illness and rendering new human drugs ineffective before they even come on the market,” said Elanor Starmer, research analyst for Food & Water Watch, a non-profit consumer advocacy group that supports the bill.  Food & Water Watch strongly supports a phasing-out of non-therapeutic and prophylactic antibiotics in farm animal production and believes that this change can be made without significant cost impacts to producers or consumers.  We commend Senator Florez for being the first to address this issue and we hope California will set an example for the nation.”

Senate Bill 416 will next be heard by the Senate Education Committee.

Senate Bill 173, a measure to improve the testing and recall process for foods, passed today by a vote of 3-1.  The bill would require food growers and processors to promptly report a positive test for any food-borne illness to the California Department of Public Health and maintain records of all testing for two years.  The bill would also give CDPH the much-needed power of mandatory recall. 

Under SB 173, any processor who does not test and later has a recall will face an automatic shutdown for six months and must cover all of the state's costs related to the outbreak.  The measure is discussed in an editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-florez21-2009apr21,0,1534939.story. 

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For Immediate Release                           Jennifer Hanson
April 21, 2009                                         916-651-401