This bill was originally number S 510 after being filed by Sen.Dick Durbin (D-IL) on 3-3-09.  The original bill (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111s510is/pdf/BILLS-111s510is.pdf) was immediately sent to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The HELP Committee held a hearing on 10-22-09 and the mark up on 11-18-09.  The Committee Chair, Tom Harkin (D-IA), offered his Chairman's Mark (http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/WHI09A061.pdf) as a substitute for the orginal Durbin version  At the mark up, several members proposed and then withdrew amendments so there were no changes and Sen. Harkin's bill was passed unanimously and forwarded to the floor of the Senate.

S 510 was then placed under the full control of a Bill Managers' Committee consisting of Sens. Harkin (D-IA), Enzi (R-WY), Durbin (D-IL), Gregg (R-NH), Dodd (D-CT) and Burr (R-NC).  For months, designated staff of those Senators met with HELP Committee staff and staff from interested Senators met weekly to review amendment requests and the Chairman's Mark version line by line.

On 8-12-10, the Bill Managers released their version (http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/WHI10337.pdf).  It included neither the Tester-Hagan amendments (to protect small farms and food facilities)  nor the Fienstein (limitations on use of plastics containing BPA).  The Bill Managers continued to consider additional changes.

It was finally brought to the floor with a version of Tester-Hagan but without Feinstein (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s510es.txt.pdf).

Since then it was passed by the Senate and sent to the House.  The House immediately recognized a constitutional problem of the Senate having originated a new tax (only the House is permitted to do that under the Constitution).  To get around this the body of the bill (now know by the acronym FSMA) was altered slightly in the offending provision and added by the House Ways and Means Committee to the Full-Year Continuin Appropriations Act, 2011 (HR 3082) as Division D - Food Safety (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr3082eah/pdf/BILLS-111hr3082eah.pdf).

This version was blocked by the Senate Republicans.

It was then added to the Senate Omnibus Spending Bill and it was blocked by the Senate Republicans.

As of 12-19-10, the FSMA is in limbo but can be attached to any House originated bill as an amendment and brought up that way.

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