"I urge the House -- which has previously passed legislation demonstrating its strong commitment to making our food supply safer -- to act quickly on this critical bill, and I applaud the work that was done to ensure its broad bipartisan passage in the Senate," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
The Senate legislation represents the largest overhaul of the U.S. food safety system in decades, Reuters reports. It would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to order recalls when a company refuses to do so voluntarily, increase inspections at the riskiest food processing plants, expand FDA capabilities to trace the source of foodborne disease outbreaks such as E. coli and salmonella, and increase the number of FDA inspectors at food plants.