Washington ( CNN ) -- The Food and Drug Administration proposed two new rules Friday that it estimates could eliminate up to 1.25 million foodborne illnesses each year from such pathogens as Salmonella , Listeria and E. Coli . The new regulations are part of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act , which aims to make the agency more proactive at preventing outbreaks . Each year one out of every six Americans gets sick from foodborne illnesses , according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Roughly 128,000 people are hospitalized and 3,000 die . `` We really need to do more than react after the fact , '' FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said in a news briefing . `` Preventing problems before they cause harm is not only common sense , it is key to food safety in the 21st century . '' One rule requires `` science-based standards for growing , harvesting , packing and holding produce on domestic and foreign farms . '' It addresses a variety of possible routes of food contamination including the manure used as fertilizer , water sprayed on crops , animals in the fields , whether workers wash their hands and how packing houses process foods . The other rule sets out guidelines for `` preventive controls for human food '' and would require companies to have plans for foodborne illnesses . `` It 's basic common sense , '' said Michael Taylor , FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine . `` In each individual facility the operator simply must identify the potential hazards , identify the controls that can work ... to reduce those hazards , implement those controls on a continuing basis , document , keep records and then make corrections when needed . '' The two proposed rules will be available for public comment for 120 days . If they go into effect as written , companies would have up to four years , depending on their size , to comply . Food safety advocates applauded the new rules . `` This is a really important step toward food safety standards that would prevent contamination whether it is produced in a food factory or being produced on a farm , '' said Chris Waldrop , director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America . `` Unfortunately , It took a series of large foodborne illness outbreaks to make people wake up and say this is a problem that needs to be addressed . '' Salmonella in peanut butter sickened 42 people last fall and cantaloupes tainted with Listeria infected 146 people and killed 30 in 2011 , according to the CDC . `` You can just look at a couple of recent outbreaks that were quite serious in terms of burden of illnesses and they occurred because of problems that would have been addressed by these kinds of approaches , '' Hamburg said , without referencing specific incidents . Still , concerns remain over whether the agency will be able to make the new rules work as intended . `` One of the key questions here is resources for FDA and making sure that FDA has enough money , enough resources to enforce this , '' Waldrop said . When asked about the cost of the program , Hamburg was not able to provide a price tag . `` It 's difficult to answer both in terms of overall cost and initial cost to implement , '' she said . `` There will also be savings overall to the system and new efficiencies , and of course prevention of problems that would have taken a toll both in health and on industry and health care . '' The agency expects private companies will enforce the new guidelines on their suppliers and counts on partnerships with local governments to help police them . `` FDA may do some inspections , but we have limited resources to inspect produce operations and we have a clear direction from Congress to collaborate with state agencies so we expect much of the oversight to come at the state and local level , '' Taylor said . The FDA says additional rules are expected , including those addressing foreign suppliers , animal food and third -party auditors . CNN 's Athena Jones contributed to this report .
Rules address produce safety and preventive controls for human food . Comment: The goal is to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses , FDA commissioner says .