[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              FOOD SAFETY

                                 ______


                          HON. CARDISS COLLINS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 1995
  Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, last week the Government 
Reform and Oversight Committee began marking up H.R. 450, the 
Regulatory Reform Act. I must say that I was surprised at just how 
obsessed with reducing the regulation of business, they are; so 
obsessed with destroying even commonsense regulations that it is even 
willing to sacrifice the health and safety of the American people.
  Last Friday, February 10, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and I 
offered an amendment that would have done one thing only; it would have 
allowed the Department of Agriculture to go forward with its new rule, 
announced just a week or so ago, for the inspection of meat and 
poultry. Not a single Republican member of the committee voted in favor 
of it.
  Meat and poultry sold to the American consumer are currently subject 
only to visual inspection under procedures that were implemented in 
1907. The new inspection procedures would require microbial testing for 
bacteria; it is the Agriculture Department's long-awaited response to 
the massive food borne illness outbreak caused by E Coli that spread 
across the west coast 2 years ago.
  Mrs. Nancy Donley of Chicago, IL, was at the markup to remind us of 
the price many American families have paid and will pay for inaction. 
Mrs. Donley lost her 6-year-old son, Alex, in July of 1993 after he 
died from eating E Coli contaminated hamburger meat.
  The USDA's new inspection rule is not being promulgated to punish 
meat and poultry processor; its purpose is to stop people from dying 
and getting sick from food borne bacteria, such as salmonella and E 
Coli. Food borne disease causes an estimated 9,000 deaths per year and 
6.5 million illnesses. Medical costs and lost productivity associated 
with the treatment of food borne illness are estimated to be between $5 
billion and $6 billion each year.
  I completely disagree with the proponents of this regulatory 
moratorium bill that we should delay for 1 minute, much less 6 months, 
the implementation of USDA's regulations to reduce the number of deaths 
and illnesses that occur each year from food poisoning.
  I first became aware of the problem with unsafe meat, in 1991 when a 
USDA inspector testified before the subcommittee I chaired under the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce. This inspector, Mr. William Lehman, 
told our subcommittee that 9 out of 10 truckloads of meat entering our 
country from Canada did not stop at the border for a casual inspection.
  After five hearings, a GAO investigation, and four different letters 
to the Secretary of Agriculture, these procedures were finally changed.
  Mr. Lehman appeared before my subcommittee again, and told us that he 
was beginning to see large quantities of Canadian hamburger entering 
our country. The problem this presents for the inspector is that 
grinding meat into hamburger disguises problems, such as the presence 
of fecal material or abscesses, that a visual inspection would allow 
you to see on a whole carcass.
  It was also at this time that the outbreak of E Coli deaths and 
illnesses occurred in the Northwest. Some of the meat supplied to the 
Jack-in-the-Box Restaurants, it is believed may have come from Canada.
  We should not allow meat to be imported into this country in the form 
of hamburger, and we should continue testing the hamburger produced 
here for bacteria.
  The USDA has proposed a rule that will allow us to take an important 
step towards ensuring that meat and poultry products sold in this 
country are free of deadly bacteria. We should not permit this bill to 
stop those efforts.
  For the Republican majority that now controls this Congress to not 
allow the proposed meat and poultry food safety rule to be implemented 
is a callous disregard for human health and life.
Vol. 141


WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1995

No. 29


House of Representatives