PR campaign or meaningful reform

Here is coverage from The New York Times on the U.S.-China food safety agreement. From the Dec. 11 story with a Beijing dateline:

China and the United States, seeking to ease the furor over the safety of food exports, signed an agreement today calling for a greater United States role in certifying and inspecting Chinese food exports, including an increased presence of American officials at Chinese production plants.

The accord, part of several aimed at easing economic tensions with China on a number of divisive subjects, would impose new registration and inspection requirements on Chinese food exporters for 10 specific products. The United States government would maintain a public list of the exporters’ records.

Reaction from FDA critic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. about the agreement:

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. -3) issued the following statement regarding the announcement that the United States and China signed a Memorandum of Agreement on the safety of food and feed imported into the United States from China.

“At face value, this long-anticipated accord between the United States and China seems to set in motion changes to improve the safety of our nation's food supply system. The idea of creating new registration and certification requirements, as well as ensuring US inspectors have access to production facilities, are significant and are components of legislation I have introduced to improve our nation’s approach to ensuring the safety of imported food.
“However, even Secretary Leavitt has acknowledged that much work needs to be done. Because of the limited scope of the accord – it only applies to 10 specific products – there are very serious questions as to the potential effectiveness of this new agreement. Also, Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wu Yi told U.S. trade negotiators this week that the American media has exaggerated the food safety issue, which questions China’s willingness to comply with this agreement. I hope that this agreement is not more of the same public relations campaign we have seen in recent months, but rather the beginning of implementing meaningful reforms that will ensure the safety of our food supply.”