FDA Chief Says Scarce Funding Hobbles Sweeping Food Safety Regulations

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is having difficulty implementing expansive new rules to improve food safety, nearly two years after President Barack Obama signed the standards into law, because of a lack of funding."

"FDA chief Margaret Hamburg predicted on Monday that her agency 'very soon' will issue new regulations needed to enforce the Food Safety Modernization Act, a sweeping piece of legislation enacted to upgrade the security of the U.S. food supply after a deadly salmonella outbreak in 2009.

Hamburg said the implementation process has been slow because Congress has not provided sufficient funds to meet the law's ambitious demands."

David Morgan reports for Reuters October 1, 2012.