Clinton Seeks Food Safety Boost

DAILY BRIEFING

Clinton Seeks Food Safety Boost

In a year when few new domestic budget initiatives are expected, the Clinton Administration plans to ask Congress for a 9 percent increase in spending on food inspection and safety, the Associated Press reports.

The $71 million increase, which would push total spending on food inspections to $817 million, comes after a year of several food scares, notably a masive recall of ground beef produced by Hudson Foods Inc.

"This is part of the administration's ongoing effort to turn what had been essentially a 19th century food inspection system into one that's ready for the 21st century," an administration official told the AP.

The new money would be divided among three agencies:

• $41 million more for the Agriculture Department to improve testing of meat and poultry.
• $25 million for the Food and Drug Administration to hire new staffers to inspect food being imported from abroad.
• $5 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve efforts to detect food-borne diseases.