DeLauro - Break up the FDA

Today's food safety hearing opens with a bang. Here is the press release from the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro detailing her opening statement. Read on...

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee oversight hearing on food safety that examined the problems highlighted during the recent salmonella outbreak and analyzed the critical components that are necessary for an effective food safety system.

During the hearing, DeLauro called for the FDA to be split into two separate agencies – dividing the food safety responsibilities from the drug and device safety responsibilities – and announced that she plans to introduce legislation next week, the Food Safety Modernization Act, that would accomplish this goal. While the long-term solution should be the creation of an independent, single food safety agency, this interim step would establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services that would have responsibility for all food safety issues currently administered by FDA. The legislation also will address other critical components of an effective food safety system including traceability, process controls, inspections, and ensuring the safety of imported foods.

Below is the text of DeLauro’s opening statement (as prepared for delivery).

We are here today to examine the salmonella outbreak this year that sickened over 1,400 people across 43 states and the District of Columbia – providing yet further evidence that our current food safety system is broken. It fails to protect consumers from unsafe foods and has the capacity to harm producers and growers in the process.

Our goal this afternoon is not simply to rehash this summer’s Salmonella outbreak. We are looking for bigger answers – searching for the solutions that will allow us to avoid these breakdowns in the future.

Certainly, in recent months food safety has taken center stage like never before. I am encouraged to see many issues that have been on the back burner for years – such as traceability – finally make their way into the mainstream discussion.

Now, it is time to put those words into action. 76 million foodborne illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur each year because of unsafe foods. And their cost to our nation is great – $7 billion in economic losses annually.

A major outbreak’s impact lasts long after it has faded from the headlines. As Mr. Farr can attest, the spinach market still has not fully recovered from an E. coli outbreak two years ago. According to the California Department of Agriculture, spinach production in California is still approximately $60 million less than pre-outbreak levels.

And as Mr. Murray will discuss – and our colleagues from Florida and Georgia have seen this first-hand – the tomato industry now faces a similar struggle. FDA first implicated tomatoes as the potential source of this summer’s salmonella outbreak, before turning its attention to jalapeno and Serrano peppers. Now the FDA may be looking into the possibility that tomatoes caused the earlier infections and peppers were the source behind later cases of the outbreak.

What is most distressing, however, is that no one seemed to be in charge – no one is in charge. During a complex and constantly evolving food safety crisis, the public and the industry both looked to their government for guidance and assurance that the situation was under control. But with little leadership, the situation quickly got out of control and continued to threaten public health and consumer confidence for weeks.

With 15 different agencies responsible for administering 30 laws related to food safety, it is no wonder investigations are mismanaged, shortsighted, and stalled. To address these failings and prevent dangerous products from slipping through the cracks, I believe we need to create a single food agency.

As an incremental step toward that goal, next week I plan to introduce the Food Safety Modernization Act, creating a Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services with responsibility for all food safety issues currently administered by FDA. While, maintaining the USDA’s independent, food safety responsibilities, the new law would establish a Commissioner of Food Safety and Nutrition Policy – a presidential appointment requiring advice and consent of the Senate – to lead the new Food Safety Administration.

It is time to create a streamlined federal agency focused exclusively on protecting our food supply. Instead of having to balance food safety with competing priorities, it would allow food safety experts and researchers to do their jobs.

To be sure, our ultimate goal must remain an independent, single food agency, but I believe that in order to begin fixing our broken system, we must act now and this is the best way forward. The Food Safety Modernization Act will address traceability, process controls, inspections, and imports. We have further to go, to be sure, but with this first step, we will have come a great distance – allowing food safety experts and researchers to do their jobs, provide increased oversight and fulfill their regulatory responsibility.

A recent GAO report outlined the critical components that are necessary for an effective food safety system, including traceback procedures, cooperative arrangements between public health officials, and mandatory recall authority. I believe that these measures could be implemented most effectively under a system governed by a singe food safety agency. While there has been movement on food safety reform, we are not there yet.

Finally, it is worth noting that the GAO report highlighted other nations’ effective “farm-to-fork” approach to food safety. If we want to see similar success and restore our own country’s gold standard for food safety we must also focus on the entire food supply chain, place primary responsibility for food safety on producers, and ensure that food imports meet equivalent safety standards.

We know what is at stake – today we will hear about the consequences of our inaction – and the opportunity to embrace tangible reforms. It is time to show we have learned these hard lessons and make public health our top priority. We cannot afford to wait any longer.

Thank you.