Food-safety rules in limbo at Office of Management and Budget

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/food-safety-rules-in-limbo/2012/05/02/gIQAhs0ZxT_story.html

More than a year after President Obama signed a landmark food-safety bill, the key provisions are hung up at a unit of the White House that is in charge of reviewing proposed policy changes.

The delay at the Office of Management and Budget baffles consumer advocates and industry groups, which joined forces to lobby for passage of the legislation and press for its funding. The united front by this unusual alliance — and the president’s enthusiastic endorsement of the legislation in the past — makes the hold-up especially puzzling.

In recent letters to the administration, nearly half a dozen groups expressed frustration with the OMB.

“There’s no explanation for the hold-up,” said Erik Olson, director of food programs at the Pew Health Group, which co-wrote one of the letters with the Grocery Manufacturers Association. “Until this new package of safeguards is put into place, all the promise of the new food-safety law will not be met.”