Government Expands Food Safety Rules Regulations Requirejuices, Egg Products To Be Certified As Safe From Farm To Shelf

Fruit and vegetable juices and egg products must be certified as safe all the way from farm to grocery store under new Clinton administration rules unveiled Monday to improve the safety of the nation’s foods.

“Our food supply is the safest in the world,” Vice President Al Gore said in presenting the $43.2 million, five-point program. But, he added, “the nation has much more to do.”

Millions of Americans each year are stricken by illness caused by the food they consume, and about 9,000 a year - mostly the very young and the elderly - die as a result, officials say.

President Clinton requested a study of needed steps in January and asked Congress to appropriate the money necessary to carry out recommendations. The report calls for:

Improved inspections and expanded preventive safety measures, including $8.5 million for additional Food and Drug Administration inspectors. In addition, fruit and vegetable juices and egg products will be included among the seafood, meat and poultry products subject to the safety tracking system.

A $4 million national education campaign by the Agriculture Department and the FDA to improve food handling in homes, restaurants and stores.

-Increased research, costing $16.5 million, to develop new tests to detect food-borne pathogens, some of which cannot be detected in many foods.

Creation of an intergovernmental group to improve federal, state and local coordination when illnesses break out.

Spending $13.7 million to build a national early-warning system to detect and respond to outbreaks.

Under the new juice and egg rules, companies must prove they have prevented contamination at every step of production, from harvesting to sales.