A food safety bill currently wending its way through Congress was approved today by the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Under the version approved by a voice vote, food processing facilities would each be assessed a $500 per year registration fee to help provide resources to the Food and Drug Administration. The committee's leaders had originally proposed a fee of $1,000 per facility but agreed to cut that in half.

California Democrat Henry Waxman, the committee’s chairman, called the fee a “critical breakthrough,” according to the Des Moines Register. The money “will provide FDA with a much-needed infusion of resources to keep the food supply safe,” Waxman said.

The food safety measure calls for a number of other improvements including—for the first time—giving the FDA the power to recall food, and a requirement for regular inspections of food-making facilities. Consumers Union has long advocated for such actions as Ami Gadhia, policy counsel, told Joanne Silberner on NPR today. "We would like to see more frequent inspections of the facilities that make our food," Gadhia said. "We would like to see more funds for FDA to do these inspections."

The Senate is considering similar legislation.