DeLauro to FDA: Act immediately

On farm controls is what one influential member of Congress wants. More from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, in advance of a food safety hearing:

 As the salmonella outbreak investigation moves into its third month Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt questioning the focus of HHS, including the Food and Drug Administration, to strengthening the food safety system.  DeLauro, in advance of holding a food safety hearing, also requested a meeting with Secretary Leavitt to get an update on the action items in the letter, as well as to discuss efforts to prevent illnesses like the current salmonella outbreak and respond when problems happen.

 

“The on-going outbreak of illness associated with Salmonella in tomatoes, and possibly other produce, demonstrates again the failure of your Department to carry through on your spoken commitment to food safety.  I would like to meet with you to discuss your Department’s efforts in dealing with the repeated food-borne illness outbreaks,” DeLauro writes in the letter.”

 

“We have in place no federal requirement for on-farm preventive controls and enforceable standards to ensure the safety of fresh produce, despite the produce industry itself calling on FDA to establish them,” continued DeLauro. “I call on you to act immediately to address these problems.”

 

Below is the text of the letter.

 

July 2, 2008

 

The Honorable Michael Leavitt

Secretary

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington , DC   20201

 

Dear Secretary Leavitt:

 

The on-going outbreak of illness associated with Salmonella in tomatoes, and possibly other produce, demonstrates again the failure of your Department to carry through on your spoken commitment to food safety.  I would like to meet with you to discuss your Department’s efforts in dealing with the repeated food-borne illness outbreaks.

 

The FDA Food Protection Plan that you issued with fanfare last December contained some good ideas for making our food safety system more effective at both preventing problems like we’re seeing today with Salmonella and responding to problems when they do occur.  To this day, however, and even as you release a progress report on your food protection plan, your Department has made no discernible progress in implementing the plan, or even outlining in actionable detail the timelines and resources that will be required.

 

The consequences of your failure to act on food safety are severe.  We have in place no federal requirement for on-farm preventive controls and enforceable standards to ensure the safety of fresh produce, despite the produce industry itself calling on FDA to establish them.  And CDC and FDA continue to struggle with inadequate tools and inadequate resources for prompt and efficient tracebacks and epidemiological investigations of outbreaks. 

 

I call on you to act immediately to address these problems in the following ways: (1) direct FDA to begin the rulemaking process to establish preventive control requirements and other appropriate on-farm standards for produce safety, (2) summon the food industry to work collaboratively with FDA and CDC to devise an effective solution to prompt traceback of foods to their source that harnesses the best in available technology and innovation in supply chain management, and (3) produce a detailed plan, with timelines and resource needs, for implementing FDA’s Food Protection Plan, including the changes and resources needed to enhance the critical roles of state and local agencies in investigating outbreaks.

 

The public demands and deserves action to protect the safety of the food supply.  As Congress considers sweeping modernization of FDA’s food safety authorities, it is incumbent on HHS to use the tools at its disposable and provide leadership to meet the public’s expectations.  Towards this end, I intend to hold a future oversight hearing and welcome the opportunity to sit down with you.

 

                                                            Sincerely,

 

 

                                                            Rosa L. DeLauro

                                                            Member of Congress