Scanning the Hill for signs Source of
Article: http://www.meatnews.com/news/beyond_stories.asp?ArticleID=103757
The recent flurry of food-safety
activity in Washington, D.C., with new comprehensive legislative proposals
for regulatory reform arriving by the week, it seems, have almost exclusively
focused on the Food and Drug Administration, not on U.S.D.A., which regulates
meat and poultry production. Even so, industry organizations are keeping a
wary eye on the proposals and debates. The National Meat Association, for
example, hasn’t taken an official position on the U.S. Food Safety
Enhancement Act, which was passed this week by the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, "because there’s a lot of stuff in the bill that we already
have with U.S.D.A.," according to NMA spokesman Jeremy Russell. "We
may end up taking a position, however." But the discussions and debate over
the Food Safety Enhancement Act were watched closely by NMA. "Just from
the tenor of the debate, I’m almost certain that something will be coming
down the line for U.S.D.A.," said Russell. He noted that proposals made
several months ago to combine F.D.A.’s and U.S.D.A.’s separate authorities
for food inspection into one "super inspection" agency are still
very much alive on Capital Hill. The proposal passed by the committee
this week would increase F.D.A.’s food safety-related authority in the wake
of recent pathogen-related recalls of leafy greens and uncooked nuts and the
resulting foodborne illnesses attributable to these F.D.A.-regulated
products. But some of the products that would fall under the purview of the
Act are used as ingredients in processed meat and poultry, causing concerns
in the meat and poultry industry that F.D.A. in addition to U.S.D.A. will
have an inspection presence in plants if the proposal becomes law. There may
also be some conflict in relevant F.D.A. and U.S.D.A. regulations for these
products. At the same time, the American Meat Institute successfully lobbied
to have language addressing low-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging removed
from the Act, and AMI called rewrites of provisions concerning
country-of-origin labeling and traceability "improvements." The food-safety debate in Washington
comes at a time when a new survey conducted by IBM shows that less than 20
percent of U.S. consumers trust food companies to develop and sell food
products that are safe and healthy for themselves and their families. The
survey of 1,000 consumers in the 10 largest U.S. cities also shows that 60
percent of consumers are concerned about the safety of food they purchase. IBM said the lack of confidence is
due to what it called "the debilitating impact of recalls." The
survey found that 83 percent of respondents were able to name a food product
that had been recalled in the past two years due to contamination or other
safety concerns. If the meat and poultry can take any heart at all in the
survey’s findings, it is that nearly half of survey respondents — 46 percent
— named peanut butter, not ground beef or luncheon meats or other meat and
poultry products, as the most recognizable recall. Spinach came in a distant
second, with 15 percent awareness. According to IBM, "Consumers
are proving to be extra cautious in purchasing food products after a recall.
49 percent of the respondents would be less likely to purchase a food product
again if it was recalled due to contamination. 63 percent of respondents
confirmed they would not buy the food until the source of contamination had
been found and addressed. Meanwhile, eight percent of respondents said they
would never purchase the food again, even after the source of contamination
was found and addressed. "These findings underscore how
the rise in recalls and contamination has significantly eroded consumer
confidence in food and product safety, as well as with the companies that
manufacture and distribute these products." But N.M.A.’s Russell isn’t expecting
any big legislative moves to be made on U.S.D.A. meat and poultry inspection
soon. After the fanfare of a White House announcement earlier this year, the
President’s Food Safety Working Group has held only a single listening
session and has not made any recommendations to date. "Part of the
problem there is that there’s still no U.S.D.A. Undersecretary for Food Safety,"
said Russell. "The Committee can’t really do anything without that
position being filled, and nothing’s likely to happen on the Hill, either,
until it’s filled. Not only that, but Secretary Vilsack is focused on so many
other things right now — biofuels, carbon offsets, the budget. Whatever’s
going to happen with food safety at the Department, I don’t think it’s going
to be soon." |
Copyright (C) All rights reserved under FoodHACCP.com
If you have any comments, please send your email to
info@foodhaccp.com