November 30, 2010

 Washington, DC— Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement following passage of a bipartisan food safety bill:

“No one in America should have to worry if the food they put on the table every night is going to harm them or their families. The bipartisan bill we passed today will make sure that continues to be true. Our food-safety system has not been updated in almost a century. This frightening fact was brought to light by the experiences of people like Rylee Gustafson, a young girl from Henderson, Nevada, who was nearly killed by bacteria from a salad, and Linda Rivera, a woman from Las Vegas who fell into a coma due to E. coli she ingested from cookie dough.

“The bipartisan measure we passed today will protect families from scares like these. It will improve on the current system by giving the FDA the resources it needs to keep up with advances in food production and marketing, while keeping the regulatory burdens on farmers and food producers to a minimum.

“I am grateful to Senators Durbin and Harkin for their invaluable leadership on this issue, and appreciate the Republicans who joined us to pass this measure to ensure peace of mind at dinner tables across the country.”