December 11, 2001 — WASHINGTON — Keeping the food supply safe and pharmaceuticals sterile and effective are underlying goals in the record $1.4 billion budget the House recently provided for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

While large portions of fiscal 2002 appropriations provide pay raises and funding for facilities and user fee acts, the budget reflects a unified commitment to continue strengthening the public health protection by focusing on urgent public health hazards.

The budget, recently signed by President Bush, will allocate:

– $15 million to protect consumers against the new variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease, a fatal illness associated with consumption of meat from cows with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The funds were provided to keep BSE, the “Mad Cow Disease,” out of the United States;.

– $10.3 million to prevent substandard food and health care products from reaching the U.S. market by increasing plant inspections and expanding surveillance of regulated imports;

– $10 million to safeguard patients against adverse events associated with the use of drugs, biological agents and medical devices by improving FDA’s system for monitoring marketed products.

– $9.4 million to significantly upgrade food safety by expanding the highly successful Food Safety Initiative beyond microbiological contaminants to cover chemical and physical food hazards.