Cotton Introduces Bill to Make Food Inspection Safe and More Efficient

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
May 21, 2025

Cotton Introduces Bill to Make Food Inspection Safe and More Efficient

Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Study And Framework for Efficiency in Food Oversight and Organizational Design (SAFE FOOD) Act, legislation that would direct the Department of Agriculture to conduct a study on the consolidation of federal agencies that have a primary role in ensuring food safety into a single agency.

“Current food safety oversight is spread across multiple federal, state, and local agencies which decreases efficacy, creates gaps, and slows response times to potential public health risks. My bill is a commonsense step to expanding government efficiency and enhancing public health protection by unifying our food safety agencies,” said Senator Cotton.

 Full text of the bill may be found here.

The SAFE FOOD Act would:

• Direct the USDA to conduct a study on the consolidation of federal food safety agencies into a single agency.
• Restructure the federal food safety system to enhance public health protections through a more unified and efficient system.
• Provide Congress necessary recommendations to improve American food safety.

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