ARLINGTON, Va. – Leslie Sarasin, president and chief executive officer of the Food Marketing Institute, said her organization is “extremely disappointed” the U.S. Senate will not act immediately to take up the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act before the midterm elections.

“The most important goal of America’s food retailers and wholesalers is to provide nutritious, safe, high-quality and affordable food,” she said. “We all have a responsibility to work together to improve the safety of our food supply. We believe the focus should be on trying to prevent problems before they occur by providing F.D.A. the necessary resources and authority to help the agency protect our food supply.


“We commend the work done by Senators Durbin and Gregg, Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi and the others who played a vital role in creating a bipartisan bill,” she added. “We will continue to urge the Senate to take up this very important legislation as soon as possible.”