{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-pingree-announce-gao-report-food-safety-food-and-drug-0", "DeLauro, Pingree Announce GAO Report on Food Safety at Food and Drug Administration", "2022-11-10", "2022", "2022-11", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Rosa L. DeLauro", "D000216", "delauro.house.gov", "delauro", "https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Report identifies how food safety can be strengthened at FDA\n\nU.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and Chellie Pingree (ME-01) today announced that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in response to their request that the GAO examine food contamination by chemical substances in our food.\n\n\u201cLet me be clear - these are forever chemicals that do not break down and may have a detrimental impact on the health of Americans,\u201d said DeLauro. \u201cAnd over time, according to the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) Total Diet Study (TDS), these chemicals can be found in a variety of food products. We need action to address this issue because the health of the American people should always come first.\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom drinking water and soil to pre-packaged food at the grocery store, \u2018forever chemical\u2019 contamination is a growing public health concern for Mainers and people across the country,\u201d Congresswoman Pingree said. \u201cAlongside Congresswoman DeLauro, I pushed for this Government Accountability Office report to determine what actions are being taken at the federal level to evaluate the prevalence and risk of chemical food contamination. While Maine is leading the nation in our response to the PFAS crisis, GAO\u2019s report and recommendations equips Congress with crucial insights into the FDA\u2019s oversight of chemicals used in food processing and packaging so we can protect our communities nationwide against PFAS contamination.\u201d\n\nThe report entitled \u201cFDA Oversight of Substances Used in Manufacturing, Packaging, and Transporting Food Could Be Strengthened\u201d reviews FDA oversight of indirect food additives. It identifies how food processing and packaging can lead to contamination of food and may pose health risks.\n\nFood processing and packaging can introduce non-food substances that may pose a health risk into food. FDA reviews information on the safety of the substances used for packaging before their first use, and as new information becomes available, FDA will reevaluate its use based on the new information. However, FDA does not have the specific authority to require companies to provide information that the agency may need for such reviews \u2013 so re-evaluation can take time or in many cases, may not be possible.\n\nThe GAO makes two recommendations to the FDA in the report: 1) request specific legal authority from Congress to compel companies to provide the information needed to reassess the safety of substances and 2) track the dates of the last reviews for all food contact substances to allow FDA to readily identify substances that warrant post-market review.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:24:37Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-pingree-announce-gao-report-food-safety-food-and-drug-0"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5537519939243793, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}