Obama wants more money for pandemic flu preparations, food safety inspectors

Budget would boost flu preparations, food safety

WASHINGTON — With the swine flu still claiming victims, President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget would devote an additional $584 million to pandemic flu preparation efforts.

That’s on top of $1.5 billion Obama requested from Congress for this year when the flu first emerged. The House Appropriations Committee approved that request Thursday and added an additional $550 million to help state and local governments and support global flu-stopping efforts.

Also on public health, the administration is asking for a nearly 20 percent increase — the biggest boost ever — in the budget of the Food and Drug Administration, partly to put 222 more food inspectors in the field, for a total of 1,022.

That proposal comes in the wake of a series of salmonella and other food safety scares that have led to criticism of FDA.

The administration is seeking to finance the increase partly with a new user fee on food facilities.

(This version CORRECTS number of new food inspectors to 222, not 325 as initially reported by FDA.)