Clinton to Increase Food Safety Budget

President Clinton is set to ask Congress for a 9% increase in spending on food inspection and safety, a significant jump in a budget expected to have little overall new domestic spending, said an administration official who requested anonymity. The $71-million increase comes in response to public fears over food safety, intensified this year when 1,400 Americans became sick after eating tainted Guatemalan raspberries and after 25 million pounds of Hudson Foods Inc. beef were recalled. The increase will appear in Clinton’s budget for the 1999 fiscal year to be unveiled in February.