An update on the food safety legislation, which we posted about last week.

The Senate passed the Food Safety Modernization Act by a vote of 73-25. The chamber rejected a series of final amendments. One of them would have replaced the entire bill with a more modest version authored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; it failed by a 62-36 vote.

Despite bipartisan support for an overhaul of FDA’s authority to regulate food, the bill faces an uncertain future since it appears there is insufficient time for a conference to reconcile the House and Senate versions.The Senate legislation differs from the House version in several respects, including the fees the FDA can charge, regulation of small food businesses and farms, and frequency of required inspections. It may be that the House will vote to pass the Senate version.  There is also some concern that the Senate invaded the tax authority that belongs to the House when it included revenue-raising fees in the Senate bill.

The expanded inspections and recall authority may lead to additional litigation down the road involving the food industry.