DeLauro Demands Accountability from USDA on Food Safety Failures

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at which Agriculture Under Secretary Dr. Richard Raymond testified.

During the hearing DeLauro pressed the agency on accountability for recent food safety failures including, the historic 143 million pound Hallmark/Westland recall, the Topps Meat recall, and the Food Safety Inspection Service's effort to move forward with a risk-based inspection system for poultry processing plants despite not having resolved the concerns outlined in an audit report from the Office of Inspector General. The Inspector General audit report confirmed the subcommittee's concern that the Food Safety Inspection Service lacks the scientific data to support the move toward a risk-based inspection system.

Below is the text of her statement, as prepared for delivery.

The hearing will come to order. Dr. Raymond, I want to welcome you and thank you very much for being here. I want to apologize for not being able to meet with you prior to today's hearing. I also serve on the Budget Committee and we spent all day yesterday marking up the FY 2009 budget.

I do not have to remind anyone of this agency's mission or how important it is. On this subcommittee, we have an obligation to make sure the Food Safety and Inspection Service is well prepared and well supported to carry out its regulatory responsibilities and protect our nation's food supply.

We all share a common goal: that is to create an effective food safety system that focuses on prevention not just reaction, ensures the public health, and makes the most effective use of limited resources. These are the basic and guiding principles of reform -- but for too they long they have been undermined by inadequate authority, outdated oversight laws and by a regard for private interest that compromises the public interest.

This past year has been an eventful one for FSIS. The meat recall involving Topps Meat Co. in September included a then-record 22 million pounds of beef. When Topps closed its doors the following month, it was a stark reminder that every recall carries not only public health consequences, but significant economic implications for businesses and workers as well.

Last year, we also learned that the Food Safety and Inspection Service was underestimating the prevalence of E. coli 0157:H7 in our nation's beef supply. The Food Safety and Inspection Service was not analyzing all of the regulatory samples taken for raw ground beef to test for the presence of the E. coli bacteria.

The agency had allowed companies with their own testing programs to divert ground beef that tested positive for E-coli 0157:H7. And the Food Safety and Inspection Service inspection personnel were allowed to discard samples that tested positive from the same lot of meat, preventing it from being sent to a Food Safety and Inspection Service laboratory for further analysis. Fortunately, the agency modified this policy but we still have serious questions as to why it ever happened in the first place.

The end of 2007 also saw the Office of the Inspector General release an audit report confirming the subcommittee's concern that FSIS lacks coherent data to support the move toward a risk-based inspection system for poultry processing plants.

I am glad Food Safety and Inspection Service has agreed with the Office of the Inspector General's recommendations on key steps it must take before proceeding with its risk-based system. But simply acknowledging those recommendations is not enough to earn the green light. Food Safety and Inspection Service must actually address the problems identified in the report before moving forward. The Office of the Inspector General emphasized this important distinction as well, criticizing Food Safety and Inspection Service for failing to achieve its prior commitments to the Office of the Inspector General.

Food Safety and Inspection Service is clearly not ready to implement risk-based inspection, yet it appears to be moving forward with a so-called Public-Health Based Inspection system -- essentially a risk-based inspection system for poultry slaughtering plants. It has a new title, but the concerns remain the same

If the Food Safety and Inspection Service is not ready to implement risk-based inspections for processing plants, it certainly is not prepared to move forward with risk-based inspections for slaughtering facilities. The labor implications of these facilities' faster line speeds are problematic, but the food safety implications are even more troubling. I have additional concerns about relying on company inspectors in place of USDA inspectors and I hope to address all of these questions with you today and discuss your plans for the months and years ahead.

To be sure, this agency has not been starved of resources. In 2007, it was funded at $29 million above of budget request. For fiscal year 2008, it spared across the board cuts and funded at the full request.

Unfortunately, the news on food safety has not improved since the New Year. The Humane Society uncovered horrific practices at the Hallmark/Westland slaughtering plant in Southern California where downed cattle were forced to stand so they could pass federal inspection. As we all know, the slaughtering of ‘downer' cows present a higher risk of E. coli contamination.

This investigation led to the recall of more than 140 million pounds of meat, setting a new record for the largest recall in U.S. history.

Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that this Hallmark/Westland plant was the second largest meat supplier to the National School Lunch Program: 37 million pounds of the recalled meat were originally estimated to have gone to the program. Next week this subcommittee will be hearing from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service and I intend to focus specifically on the school lunch aspects of this recall.

I should also note I am troubled that your testimony this morning -- while addressing some topics like BSE in great depth -- fails to seriously address some of our most urgent concerns like the dramatic Hallmark/Westland failures or the larger questions of E. Coli threats.

There is something seriously wrong with our system when it is disease outbreaks that are catching the failures at these plants and not the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Dr. Raymond, thank you again for being here. I look forward to our discussion, so that we may confront these tough issues, strengthen the Food Safety and Inspection Service's ability to meet its regulatory responsibilities, and together meet our commitment to the American people. Thank you.

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