February 16, 2007--U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) on Thursday re-introduced in Congress a bill that would consolidate the 15 separate federal branches currently charged with protecting the country's food supply into a single food-safety agency.

The two Congress members are pushing for new hearings on the Safe Food Act, a bill they have tried to enact for more than 10 years. They re-introduced it simultaneously in both chambers of Congress.

The proposed Food Safety Administration would take over food safety and labeling responsibilities currently held by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, establish requirements for tracing food back to the farm and oversee regular random inspection of all food processing plants. The agency would also have recall authority.

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