DeLauro vision for food safety

Here is the latest release from Rep. Rosa DeLauro. It fleshes out her vision for the future of food safety and what she believes are need changes in food safety regulation. A biggie is access to foreign facilities.....

From the release:

“Too often, it seems as if this administration is more focused on trade relations than consumer safety, more on public relations than public health. Even in the face of recent industry interest in seeking more of a formal regulatory scheme and inspections, the FDA would not -- or did not have the institutional clout to make it happen. Increased trade should never require us to compromise our standards of health and safety.

“With so much immediate pressure on the system, we need to make some immediate changes that can make a very big difference. Let me lay out some of these short and medium-term changes that can have a real impact on our food safety before we can act on more fundamental reforms.

“The United States should empower the FDA, with the authority to:
· One, authorize the FDA to inspect overseas plants and make access to foreign plants a condition of entry to the U.S. This is a big change, but during the pet food recall, we saw why: the FDA was unable to gain access to the plants in China to conduct an adequate investigation and it became clear that freer inspections abroad must be part of the equation.

· Two, impose fines on those who have imported unsafe or adulterated foods. This represents a new approach, when itcomes to pushing back at offenders.

· And three, require importers to better document the source of imported foods and food ingredients.

“At the same time, with our global food supply in mind we need to start moving toward a more fundamental transformation of the way the FDA oversees food imports. That means a concerted effort to both:

· Work with major trading partners to forge equivalence agreements, establishing certification programs as the basis for ensuring that imported products will meet U.S. standards in advance; and

· Collaborate with the private sector to encourage greater reliance on private certification systems to verify that effective preventive measures have been observed in producing goods intended for import.

“I think there is real momentum in this nation for reform -- addressing not only a rising flood of imports, but also the serious need to reexamine our entire food safety system here at home. I know we can do so in a way that benefits both the consumer and the industry.

“To be sure, that process must include addressing the challenges that face the USDA today. I will continue working to push FSIS to slow down its implementation of Risked Based Inspection until the agency can obtain the comprehensive scientific data it needs. Today the USDA currently lacks this data and moving forward would be misguided and potentially dangerous.

“That is why I am also opposed to the ill-advised FSIS decision to grant China equivalency status so that it may export processed poultry back into the United States as long as the raw meat was originally slaughtered here in the US or Canada.

“Ultimately, this administration has a responsibility to ensure ANY reform we make to our food safety system actually improve resource allocation and safety.

“That is why I am here to speak to you today, not about the immediate measures, but about a new path toward fundamental reform -- about the best approach to restructuring the FDA in order to better position that agency to respond to emerging threats to our food supply.

“With a real concerted effort -- a bold, energized campaign -- we can pursue serious, sweeping change. We can move openly and urgently toward a unified, effective food safety system which focuses on prevention not just reaction, makes the most effective use of limited resources, and addresses both domestic and imported food safety. These are the basic and guiding principles -- but for too long they have been compromised by outdated oversight laws that are putting lives at risk."