Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

Floor Speech

Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act.

Over the past year or so there have been several high profile food contamination incidents in the U.S. involving: spinach, cantaloupes, peanut butter, and tomatoes.

Congress has diligently investigated all of these incidents and found FDA simply does not have the resources, funding, manpower, or technology it needs to protect the American food supply and fulfill its mission.

This bill finally gives the FDA the authority to conduct mandatory recall. We should not to rely on the voluntary efforts of food manufacturers to ensure the safety of their product.

H.R. 2749 will also require the FDA to inspect high-risk facilities once every six months to a year. FDA now inspects food production facilities once a decade on average.

The one shortcoming of the bill is that funding is not dedicated to the creation of additional FDA labs, but it does allow for third party inspection by accredited labs.

The Port of Houston does not have an FDA lab and in fact there is no FDA lab in the entire state of Texas even though we share the longest border with Mexico.

Right now, the FDA is only able to inspect approximately 1 percent of imported food at the border. With its level of trade and southern border with Mexico, it is a glaring hole in the system that Texas does not have an FDA lab. In fact, there are over 300 ports of entry in the U.S. and only 13 ports actually have FDA labs.

It is my hope that we will be able to provide additional funds for the creation of these labs in the future.

H.R. 2749 provides some of those funds to get the FDA moving in the correct direction, and we will have to appropriate more, but I am happy the Food Safety Enhancement Act finally gives the FDA the authority and improved systems to protect our food supply.

I am pleased that after two years of hard work we will finally be moving a comprehensive food safety bill out of House.

I want to commend Chairman Emeritus DINGELL, Chairman WAXMAN, Chairman PALLONE, and Chairman STUPAK for their continued and dedicated work on this issue.

Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman WAXMAN and especially Chairman Emeritus DINGELL and his staffer, Virgil Miller, for their work to include an amendment I authored regarding lead in ceramic ware.

A couple years ago in Utah, a young mother used ceramic plates to heat her food in the microwave. Her infant became very sick. Doctors discovered that the baby was suffering from lead poisoning because lead had leached out of the ceramic plates she used. Most of us are unaware of this risk and most people don't know that lead can leach out of ceramic ware when the glaze is improperly fired or when the glaze has broken down over time. When lead is released into food and drink from ceramics, hazardous levels can contaminate food substances and expose children and adults to toxic levels.

FDA regulates the lead levels of ceramic ware and has set acceptable levels of lead-allowed ceramic ware used in food preparation and currently has a safety warning designating ceramic items not intended for food use. However, there is currently no label alerting consumers that the ceramic products they purchase for food use/preparation (i.e. plates, cups, etc.) contain any lead.

My language requires labels on plates and packaging for ceramic ware/cookware containing lead for an intended functional purpose. It focuses on the glazing because all ceramic ware has trace amounts of lead in clay and those trace amounts do not contribute to lead poisoning. Problems arise when ceramicware contains lead-based glaze that is either fired incorrectly or contains high amounts of lead (above safe levels).

This language doesn't affect ornamental plates or decorative ceramics, which are already regulated by FDA and which are not considered safe for food use because of their lead levels.

Finally, my provision requires FDA to set up an educational program on its website to further educate consumers about these issues and about safe practices.

I am hopeful that these measures will enable us to better protect children and families from the potential problems caused by incorrectly fired ceramic ware and lead leaching from ceramics.

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