WASHINGTON - Efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help ensure the safety of the nation's food supply "should focus on preventing food safety problems, rather than on unnecessarily expanding USDA's enforcement powers," according to Dane Bernard, Vice President of Food Safety Programs for the National Food Processors Association (NFPA).
Responding to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman's announcement that he intends to send legislation to Congress that would expand USDA's food safety enforcement powers, Bernard made the following comments:
"While we share the Secretary's concern that contaminated food be promptly removed from the marketplace, the current system has been effective in accomplishing this for decades. USDA -- as well as the Food and Drug Administration -- already has all the power it needs to assure that foods are recalled if necessary. While such recalls technically are 'voluntary,' the Agriculture Department's ability to withdraw its inspectors from a plant and to widely publicize any safety problems virtually guarantees that food companies will respond quickly to recall recommendations.
"The food industry has an excellent record of cooperation with the regulatory agencies on food safety matters. Food companies have a vested interest in ensuring that no product posing any risk to consumers remains on the market and that all food products on the shelves are safe and wholesome.
"It is NFPA's belief that USDA should focus its resources on prevention of food safety problems, rather than on greater recall authority. More than four years ago, USDA asked FDA to approve the use of food irradiation -- a treatment that kills pathogens such as E. coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella -- on red meat. This safe and effective technology has been approved for a number of other food products, such as fruits, vegetables and poultry, and its use has been endorsed by an array of national and international food safety and health experts. USDA should press FDA to act now to make this important food safety tool available for use on meat.
"Enhanced detection and reporting of foodborne illness outbreaks, research and development of new and powerful food safety technologies, and increased food safety education at all points along the food chain -- from growers to consumers -- will help ensure that U.S. consumers continue to enjoy one of the safest food supplies in the world. Such measures are far more effective in addressing food safety concerns than expanding the Department's enforcement authority."
NFPA is the voice of the $430 billion food processing industry on scientific and public policy issues involving food safety, nutrition, technical and regulatory matters and consumer affairs.
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