The countdown is on to better protect Americans’ health and give consumers more confidence in their seafood choices.

Each year, 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses, leading to more than 128,000 hospitalizations and thousands of deaths.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring most of the nation's seafood supply, both domestic and imported, is safe from harmful bacteria and viruses. This includes a new food traceability requirement set to take effect next year that helps quickly track and trace high-risk foods like fish when an outbreak occurs, preventing more people from getting sick. Fish is the most common type of food that makes people ill, and with most Americans eating more than 20 pounds of seafood each year, traceability can save lives. Seafood traceability also helps ensure that what you pay for is what you actually get.

The new requirement better tracks and traces high risk foods, including nearly all seafood, and it’s set to go into effect in January 2026. But some members of Congress are trying to delay it — or even block it entirely.

Food traceability gives consumers confidence in the seafood they eat. Tell your U.S. Representatives and Senators that food traceability gives people trust in what they’re putting on their plates, and ANY more delay is UNACCEPTABLE.

Our health, and the health of our families, is on the line.

petition text

Dear {contact_data~salutation},

I am writing as a constituent who wants to ensure that my family and I are protected from foodborne illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in six Americans get sick from food each year, with seafood causing 260,000 illnesses. This is often the result of seafood whose complex supply chains mean there are lots of opportunities for contamination or seafood fraud. I am asking you to ensure that the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Traceability Rule goes into effect on January 20, 2026, so that contaminated foods can be swiftly identified and removed from grocery store shelves and restaurants. Please oppose any efforts to delay the implementation of these traceability requirements.

To safeguard American health, Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010, which required the FDA to develop traceability requirements for foods that are at a high-risk for foodborne illness. Traceability record-keeping enables contaminated foods to be rapidly recalled, which can prevent further illness and death and save Americans and hospitals up to $14 million for each outbreak of foodborne illness, according to a study by the Institute of Food Technologists. The FDA finalized a list of high-risk foods in 2022, including most seafood, that should be traced under this program.

I urge you to oppose any legislation, including in appropriations bills, that would delay or weaken FDA’s Food Traceability Rule. For example, a bill introduced in 2024 (H.R. 7563) would delay the rule by several years and remove record-keeping requirements for warehouses, grocery stores, and restaurants. To protect our health, it is essential that the FDA can trace contaminated foods from the restaurant back to their sources, especially as over 60% of foodborne illnesses happen at restaurants.

Ensuring the FDA’s Food Traceability Rule goes into effect as planned is crucial to increasing American consumers’ confidence in the government’s ability to protect the food supply, which has dropped to a record low of 57% according to a recent bipartisan Gallup poll. Accurate labeling and traceability of seafood from the boat to my plate would provide me with more confidence in the seafood I eat and bring integrity to the full supply chain. I want to know that seafood is safe, legally caught, honestly labeled, and responsibly sourced.

After more than 15 years of waiting, we are less than a year away from safer food. Please do not support any legislation that would jeopardize the health and safety of American consumers by blocking food traceability.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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