FDA Proposes New Food Safety Rules

Would control how some agricultural products are processed

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed two sweeping rules aimed at preventing the contamination of produce and processed foods, taking a long-awaited step toward codifying the food safety law that Congress passed two years ago.

The proposed rules represent a sea change in the way the agency polices food, a process that currently involves swinging into action after food contamination has been identified.

"These new rules really set the basic framework for a modern, science-based approach to food safety and shifts us from a strategy of reacting to problems to a strategy for preventing problems," Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the F.D.A., said in an interview.