A public health advocacy group is pressing the Food and Drug Administration to name more
companies and brand names associated with foodborne illness outbreaks by reinterpreting the law or
amending the agency’s regulations.
In a petition filed Thursday and shared exclusively with Bloomberg Law, nonprofit STOP Foodborne
Illness encouraged the FDA to change its legal interpretation of trade secrets and name any
foodmaker linked to an outbreak, even absent a product recall.
Under current policy, FDA considers company and brand names “confidential commercial
information” and only discloses them if recalling a product associated with a food illness outbreak.
STOP argues, however, that the agency’s interpretation of the Trade Secrets Act is incorrect and
shouldn’t cover a food company’s identity.
