WASHINGTON — Several industry trade groups joined consumer advocacy organizations and legislators yesterday to issue a plea for more funding for the Food and Drug Administration, following the recent report by the FDA that it is unable to adequately police the nation’s food supply. Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., were joined by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Food Marketing Institute, the American Frozen Food Institute, the Coalition for a Stronger FDA and FDA Alliance, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and the Consumer Federation of America in calling on the White House to boost the FDA’s resources. Durbin asked for a doubling of the agency's $1.6 billion budget over the next five years. “To the extent that the FDA might need some additional funding to accomplish their mission, we would certainly support that,” Tim Hammonds, president and chief executive officer, FMI, told SN earlier this week. “The other side of this is that the government agencies would never have enough resources and enough people to do this total job of ensuring food safety from farm to table by themselves — industry has to play an increasingly important role in that whole process.”
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