WASHINGTON—The recall of 500 million eggs has put some pending legislation on food safety in the spotlight.

As the U.S. House and Senate consider bills designed to give the federal government more power to regulate and inspect the nation's food supply, members of the insurance industry hope this recall will prompt Congress to act.

The Food and Drug Administration can compel recalls only on certain food items, such as baby formula. It cannot, however, require recalls on eggs, produce and beef, for example. Those recalls are done voluntarily by the producer.

The bills—S.B. 510 and H.R. 875—would enhance the authority of federal agencies involved in food safety, inspection and regulation, including the FDA.

“Certainly, it comes as a great surprise to the public to learn that the FDA cannot compel recalls, but that recalls to this day remain voluntary, and this has been a longstanding gap in the FDA's authority,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg during an Aug. 23 new conference. “The legislation that Congress is currently considering would give us that authority and other critical tools, such as enhanced authority to trace back products to the source, to require firms to implement preventative (contamination) controls, and to provide FDA with access to important records.”

The bills are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is designed to hold companies that produce, process, package and distribute food products to higher standards, including allowing the FDA to conduct unannounced inspections and access records of food that the secretary of the Department Health and Human Services deems hazardous.

Further, the proposal would strengthen and expand foodborne illness surveillance systems and require imported food to meet the same standards as U.S.-made food. The measure also would establish a national traceability system for food.

“It's going to give the FDA more regulatory authority to conduct mandatory inspections on food,” said Katherine Ann Cahill, global managing director in Marsh Inc.'s global product risk practice in New York. “The FDA can then set test standards and mandatory inspections and can help order product recalls,” she said. “It would also be able to shut down plants that aren't following those regulation guidelines.”

-By Jeff Casale