Lyndsey Layton reported in today’s Washington Post that, “The Senate moved forward Wednesday on long-awaited legislation that would overhaul the nation’s food safety system, grant new powers to the Food and Drug Administration and make farmers and processors responsible for preventing food-borne illness.

“The legislation follows a spate of national outbreaks of food poisoning linked to items as varied as eggs, peanuts and spinach, in which thousands of people were sickened and more than a dozen died.

“The Senate voted 74 to 25 to begin debate on the bill, suggesting the measure has strong bipartisan support and good prospects for passage. The House approved its version more than a year ago, and food safety advocates have been pushing the Senate to act so differences between the two measures can be reconciled and the legislation signed into law by President Obama by the end of the lame-duck session.”

The Post article noted that, “Debate on the bill is expected to begin Thursday and could last up to 30 hours;” and added that, “The bill would place greater responsibility on manufacturers and farmers to prevent contamination – a departure from the current system, which relies on government inspectors to catch tainted food after the fact.

“Farmers and processors would have to develop a strategy to prevent contamination and then continually test their production methods and their products to make sure their food is safe.”

Today’s Post article explained that, “Although the bill has wide backing from groups representing consumers, public health advocates, major growers, food processors and retailers, it has revealed a deep rift between large farming corporations and the burgeoning local farming movement.

“Boosters of sustainable agriculture and the local food movement want small farmers to be exempt from the regulations, which they say could force small operations out of business.