Committee Statement

 

The Honorable Frank D. Lucas

Ranking Member, House Committee on Agriculture

 

RE: Agriculture Committee hearing to review federal food safety systems

 

April 2, 2009

Mr. Chairman, thank you for calling this hearing, which is intended to be the first in a series of agriculture committee food safety hearings this session.

The theme of this first hearing was presented to us as educational, intended to lay a foundation and refresh the minds of our colleagues regarding the current state of our federal food safety system. While we have many fine witnesses today, I believe it would have been more helpful to begin with current representatives from our regulatory agencies and the many producers and processors who are actually subject to federal food safety regulation. I am hopeful that we will hear from these interests more fully in later hearings.

Consumers, producers, processors and retailers I talk to have questions about where our food safety system is going. A series of food borne illness incidents, most recently salmonella illnesses and deaths associated with peanut butter and peanut paste from a commercial supplier, have focused criticism on the food and drug administration (FDA). It is, therefore, not surprising that most of the legislative proposals currently under discussion have implications for the FDA and the producers and processors of the foods under their jurisdiction.

It would be easy to simply adopt these legislative proposals, declare victory, issue our press releases, and get on with our business. Agency reorganization, farm to table trace back, mandatory recall, hazard analysis plans & performance standards, inspection frequency, import inspection, civil & criminal penalties, third party certification and regulation of on-farm production practices – to name a few proposals – all have implications for the future of our federal food safety system. However, as we consider these ideas, both in hearings and through legislative activities, we must consider the merits of each proposal according to a very simple standard.

We must judge each of these as to whether they contribute to or reduce the ability of our farmers and ranchers to provide our consumers with the safest, most affordable, most abundant food supply in the history of the world.

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses and their responses to our questions.

 

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