Pennsylvania yesterday moved closer to becoming the first state to establish serious penalties for truckers caught hauling garbage and chemicals in vehicles also used to transport food.

A Senate/House committee approved an amendment to the state's Code of Motor Vehicles, which would have truckers facing heavy fines and the loss of their license or truck if caught "backhauling" -- transporting food in a vehicle that had previously been used to transport waste.

"I don't think either you nor I want to eat out of a garbage can, and that is the situation we are faced with," said Sen. J. Doyle Corman, R-Bellefonte, one of the committee's members.

The amendment has been sent to both chambers and should be passed by the Senate and the House next week, Corman said.

Under the bill, a first-time offense would levy a fine ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 on the trucking company and food processing company, and the truck would be confiscated, Corman said. For second offenses, the fine would be anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000, the truck would be confiscated and the driver could lose his or her license for up to a year.

"We're pretty serious about trying to stop this problem," Corman said.

The state Department of Environmental Resources would help with the bill's enforcement, said Susan Woods, press secretary for the DER.

"We generally support the concept of the bill -- backhauling is a despicable practice," Woods said. "It will complement existing regulations."

The DER would add backhauling to the checklist of violations used in its Trashnet program to inspect landfills and trucks for environmental violations and also assist with on-site truck inspection during any state police "dragnettype" operations, Woods said,

State police and the Department of Transportation would be responsible for the actual stopping of trucks on the road, she said.

Legislators' attention was initially drawn to the backhauling practice in Pennsylvania after an investigative report was published last year by the Centre Daily Times. Several months ago, the DER proposed backhauling regulations to the state Environmental Board, Woods said.

One representative of a local trucking company said the amendment is needed to stop the widespread practice of backhauling in the industry.

"I wholeheartedly support it," said Art Irvin, general manager for Davidson Brothers Contracting in Wingate. "They should not be allowed to haul food, or ingredients used in food or animal feed, in trucks used for garbage. There should be stiff penalties on people who do it."

One often little recognized problem in backhauling is transporting garbage in the same trucks used for ingredients used in animal feed, Irvin said.

Trucks often carry ingredients such as soy after transporting harazdous waste, which is then used is animal feed, Irvin said.

"It gets into the soy, which gets turned into food, then a cow eats the cow feed, it contaminates the milk and then I drink that milk," Irvin said.

The Pennsylvania bill would apply to any food product, Corman said . It also includes guidelines for emergency lights on vehicles and requirements for hauling garbage in contained trucks, he added.

Nationally, a similar bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. William Clinger, R-Pa., is presently waiting in committee after having passed the Public Works and Transportation Committee.

"We're hopeful that it will be getting some attention soon," said David Fuscus, Clinger's spokesman.