Lawmakers are hoping to form a single agency that oversees all aspects of food safety. Currently, according to Reuters, the system is fragmented: "Most of the responsibility for food safety lies with the Food and Drug Administration [while] the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees meat, poultry and processed eggs." The bill proposed Wednesday, known as the Safe Food Act of 2015, will create a single federal agency headed up by an administrator "directly appointed by the President." The new agency would have authority over inspections, enforcement and labeling, instigating recalls on unsafe food, and improving "foreign food import inspections."

The lawmakers behind the bill say that they aim "to elevate food safety at a time when the U.S. food supply is increasingly sourced from abroad." Reuters writes that nearly 48 million Americans suffer from foodborne illnesses each year. Of those, nearly 100,000 are hospitalized and for many, food poisoning proves fatal.

Food safety is an important issue stateside, especially when it comes to products like dairy and meat. Just last year 1.8 million pounds of ground beef were recalled because of E. coli contamination. A few months before that, a company in Northern California recalled over 8.7 million pounds of beef products that were found to have come from diseased cows. According to Reuters, the FDA declined to comment on the proposed legislation.