Overnight Regulation: FDA unveils rules overhauling US food safety system

Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from Capitol Hill and beyond. It’s Thursday evening here in Washington, where federal regulators had a busy day.

Here’s what happened.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized two food safety rules on Thursday, kicking off the most significant upgrade to the nation’s system of protecting the public against foodborne illnesses since the early 1900s.

The rules require both U.S. and foreign manufacturers of human and animal food to write food safety plans that indicate possible sources of contamination and outline steps their facilities would take to prevent or significantly minimize the likelihood of those contaminations from occurring.

The preventative control rules are two of seven regulations to come from the agency as a result of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).  The agency has, by court order, until Oct. 31 to issue its final standards for produce safety, a final rule to create a foreign supplier verification program and rules that will create a system for accrediting third-party auditors.

The agency has until Mach 1 to finalize rules that establish standards for the sanitary transportation of food and until March 31 to roll out final rules for to protect food from intentional contamination.

Under the rules released Thursday, manufacturers will be required to verify and document that those preventative controls they’ve established are working to give FDA a starting point when responding to illness outbreaks.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association said it’s committed to working with Congress to get the funding needed for the FDA to fully implement the new rules.

ON TAP FOR FRIDAY

The House Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Environment will hold a hearing to discuss how states feel the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plan will shut down power plants. http://1.usa.gov/1FA3vQc

The Senate does not have any hearings scheduled.  

The American Feed Industry Association is holding a press call to discuss FDA’s new rules for animal food manufacturers.

TOMORROW’S REGS TODAY

The Obama administration will publish 105 new regulations, proposed rules, notices, and other administrative actions in Friday’s edition of the Federal Register.

—The Department of Labor (DOL) will issue new regulations to protect federal contractor employees who talk about how much money they make.

The pay secrecy rules from the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs would prohibit government contractors from firing or disciplining workers because they inquire about other employees’ pay or disclose their own.

It stems from President Obama’s April 2014 executive order. 

The public has 120 days to comment. http://bit.ly/1LmyHo4

—The Interior Department will delay new security standards for oil and gas facilities in the U.S. 

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management proposed the security standards for oil and gas facilities on federal and Indian lands in July, but is extending the comment period by 28 days to give the public more time to comment.

“It includes provisions intended to ensure that oil and gas produced from Federal and Indian oil and gas leases are properly and securely handled, to ensure accurate measurement, production accountability, and royalty payments, and to prevent theft and loss,” the agency wrote.

The public has until Oct. 9 to comment. http://bit.ly/1iAaMuD

—The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will exempt model airplanes from notification requirements for drones.

Drone operators are required to notify the NTSB about certain accidents, but the agency will exempt model airplanes from this requirement.

The rules go into effect immediately. http://bit.ly/1VQxBbF

NEWS RIGHT NOW

Guns: The father of slain broadcast journalist Alison Parker is championing gun control legislation on Capitol Hill. http://bit.ly/1FA0Tlo

Federal contractors: Companies that do business with the government say they are being unfairly targeted by the Obama administration. http://bit.ly/1XQwFGb

Drones: Lawmakers are considering new drone privacy protections. http://bit.ly/1MeMRxg

Food safety: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a sweeping food safety overhaul. http://bit.ly/1OfOnif

Ex-cons: New legislation would make it easier for ex-convicts to find jobs once they are released from prison. http://bit.ly/1VQxiNX

Pay: Federal employees will be allowed to talk about how much money they make without fear of being fired under a new rule from the Labor Department. http://bit.ly/1gcAtiV

BY THE NUMBERS

78 percent: The amount of money women make on average for every dollar men make, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families.

48 million: The number of people who get sick each year from foodborne illnesses, according to the CDC.

13: The number of executive orders President Obama has issued targeting federal contractors.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I constantly hear from women across the country that unequal pay continues to happen and is hard to uncover,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in response the Labor Department’s pay secrecy rule.