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Washington - The Agriculture Department is seeking to allow shipments of poultry processed in China,
where thousands of birds and several people have died from bird flu.
The United States does not accept live poultry imports from countries where the virulent bird flu strain is
present, and it still would not under the proposed policy.
Instead, the department would allow China to process poultry slaughtered in the U.S. or other countries
from which the U.S. accepts poultry.
Critics are urging the department to drop the proposal, fearing how it might affect consumers' perception
of how safe it is to eat chicken.
Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record) of Iowa said Friday the U.S. can't afford to take chances. He
acknowledged there are safeguards in the plan but said the department has a poor record on inspections.
"We know that USDA's foreign food inspections have had problems in the past, and with so many
unanswered questions, it is not wise to allow processed poultry imports from China at this time," said
Harkin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
"I am concerned the administration is neglecting the substantial public health and economic risks to the
United States, which USDA itself acknowledges but fails to address," he said.
The industry did not ask for the proposal, National Chicken Council spokesman Richard Lobb said.
Chicken companies recently launched tests of every flock in the nation to reassure people that chicken is
safe to eat.
"The timing is a mystery to us. We did not seek this rule. We're not objecting to it, but we didn't support
it, either," Lobb said.
Under the government proposal, the poultry would have to be fully cooked in China and packaged or
canned for shipment to the United States.
The Agriculture Department proposed the rule, with no announcement, on Nov. 23. The period during
which it accepted comments on the proposal ended Monday. The rule still must be finalized before it takes
effect.
The department acted on a request from China, spokesman Steven Cohen said. The department "takes
the issue of food safety extremely seriously," he said. "We would not have proposed this rule without
having the scientific basis to be able to guarantee the safety of the product."
Officials are reviewing the comments and have no timeline for finalizing the rule, he said.
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
