990344 Report On Food Safety Agency Due Soon

Washington - The Clinton Administration has nearly completed its response to a call by the National Academy of Sciences to end the patchwork quilt of regulations and agencies that safeguard the nation's food supply, a senior U.S. Agriculture Department official said.

The report is unlikely to endorse a proposal by some Democratic lawmakers, consumer groups and scientists to create a new agency with responsibility for everything from hamburgers to imported strawberries, sources said.

Instead, the administration is expected to outline ways it will encourage the dozen federal agencies involved in food safety to work together more closely, they said. That approach is supported by food industry groups.

An estimated 9,000 Americans die and millions get sick annually from eating contaminated food. A recent outbreak of listeria in hot dogs and deli meats made by a Michigan plant claimed 20 lives.

Catherine Woteki, USDA undersecretary for food safety, said the administration's report was nearly ready.

“We're down to weeks or even days,” she told reporters after appearing before a House Agriculture Appropriations hearing on food safety spending for fiscal 2000.

“The president's Food Safety Council has done a thorough review of the academy's report,” said Woteki.

The Food Safety Council was created by Clinton last August, days after the National Academy of Sciences completed a lengthy analysis of food safety laws requested by Congress.

The academy concluded that the U.S. government needs a single powerful food safety chief with a budget and staff to streamline the hodgepodge of food regulations that now exist.

That could mean creating a single food safety agency -- an approach likely to set off political and turf battles -- or it could come about by appointing a food safety czar with broad powers, the independent group of scientists said.

The USDA has authority over meat and poultry products, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for fruit, vegetables and imported food. Because of varying laws and budgets over the years, the USDA has many more inspectors than the FDA.

An example often used by critics of the current system is that a U.S. plant producing pepperoni pizzas will be checked daily by a USDA meat inspector. But a plant making only cheese pizzas may not be visited by an FDA inspector for a decade or more.

Some of the other agencies that get involved in food safety include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Commerce Department.

“Why do we have so many agencies involved in food safety? It's got to be the most inefficient thing in the world,” Rep. Allen Boyd, a Florida Democrat, said during the hearing.

Both Democratic and Republican members of the budget subcommittee pressed Woteki for her views on a single food agency. “We've been able to build a much more cooperative infrastructure,” she said, referring to USDA's work with the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control, and other agencies.

Rep. George Nethercutt, a Republican from Washington state, asked the USDA if it could share some of its inspectors with the under-staffed FDA.

The USDA has held some “initial discussions” with FDA leaders about sharing inspectors, said Tom Billy, administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, told the panel.

But many USDA meat inspectors are not highly trained and would offer little to help the FDA, said Billy, a former FDA food safety manager.

“It doesn't match up very well,” he said. “We think there's a potential down the road but we need to continue our discussions with the FDA.”

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