Kevin's Law (as referred to in Representative

Anna Eshoo Anna A. Eshoo ( ; née Georges; born December 13, 1942) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from . She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 14th district from 1993 to 2013, is based in Silico ...

's introduction of the law in 2005 and in the 2008 documentary ''

Food, Inc. ''Food, Inc.'' is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Robert Kenner

''; formally known as the Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act of 2003, ) was proposed legislation that would have given the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

the power to close down plants that produce contaminated meat.Kevin's Story
foodborneillness.org page for Kevin's Story Kevin's Law was nicknamed in memory of two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk of Colorado, who died in 2001 after developing hemolytic-uremic syndrome due to eating a hamburger contaminated with ''E. coli'' O157:H7. The bill was reintroduced by Rep.

Anna G. Eshoo Anna A. Eshoo ( ; née Georges; born December 13, 1942) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from . She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 14th district from 1993 to 2013, is based in Silico ...

, D-Palo Alto, as , in the 109th Congress.H.R.3160 - Kevin's Law
Open Congress page for H.R.3160 - Kevin's LawAnna G. Eshoo, D-Palo Alto
house.gov page for Kevin's Law This bill never became law, as it was referred to committee but never reported on. In 2011, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

signed into law the

FDA Food Safety Modernization Act The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. The FSMA has given the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested and processed. The l ...

(FSMA), introduced by Rep.

Betty Sutton Betty Sue Sutton (born July 31, 1963) is an American politician who currently serves as a Judge of Ohio's 9th District Court of Appeals. She previously served as a U.S. Representative for from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Party ...

. The FSMA contains key elements of Kevin's Law. Kevin's Law would strengthen the U.S. government's ability to prevent contaminated meat and poultry from entering the food supply by: *Requiring the

(USDA) to identify the pathogens that threaten human health (e.g., ''

Salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...

'', ''E. coli'' O157:H7, ''

Listeria monocytogenes ''Listeria monocytogenes'' is the species of pathogenic bacteria that causes the infection listeriosis. It is a facultative anaerobic bacterium, capable of surviving in the presence or absence of oxygen. It can grow and reproduce inside the host' ...

''). *Requiring the USDA to establish performance standards to reduce the presence of these pathogens in meat and poultry. *Confirming that the USDA has the authority to enforce its own standards by shutting down plants that continually breach basic health standards. Courts have held that the USDA does not have this authority in the absence of explicit authorizing legislation.

References

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External links

Eshoo Introduces 'Kevin's Law'

H.R.3160 - Kevin's Law (OpenCongress.org)

H.R. 2203: Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act (GovTrack.us)

Full text of H.R. 2203

Kevin's story updated by Barbara Kowalcyk for Food, Inc. A Robert Kenner Film in pbs.org

Proposed legislation of the 108th United States Congress Proposed legislation of the 109th United States Congress Food law