Policy

FDA Proposes New Food Safety Rules

Would control how some agricultural products are processed

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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.