Friend,

If Washington can’t get its act together, funding for food safety is about to take a serious hit.

It seems hard to believe, but the agencies that keep our food safe will face devastating, indiscriminate, and across-the-board cuts … if President Obama and Speaker Boehner and other lawmakers cannot come to agreement on a plan to avert the “fiscal cliff” at year’s end.

Make no mistake:  The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration will be less-equipped to carry out the basic functions that keep E. coli, Salmonella, and other deadly pathogens out of our meat, poultry, seafood, fruits, vegetables, and all types of packaged foods.

Fewer inspections.  Less microbial testing.  Slower response to outbreaks.  It’s a harrowing future that portends more unnecessary illnesses, more preventable hospitalizations, and more prematurely shortened American lives.

Call Speaker of the House John Boehner now at 202-225-0600.  Tell him that the safety of our food supply must not be jeopardized and that USDA and FDA must not face reckless across-the-board cuts.

Active on Twitter?  Then Tweet @SpeakerBoehner with the message “don’t throw food safety off the #fiscalcliff.”

Please take these steps today.  Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Caroline Smith DeWaal
Director of Food Safety

P.S. If you don’t already, please follow CSPI on Facebook and Twitter and you’ll know even faster when it’s time to take action on critical nutrition and food safety issues facing the country.