[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 151 (Monday, November 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11590-S11591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    BERRY ALERT CAME WEEK AFTER SALE

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, in March of this year, over 200 
schoolchildren in my State contracted the hepatitis A virus from food 
served by the school lunch program. As news of the outbreak began to 
pour in, the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Centers 
for Disease Control went into action to determine the cause. They soon 
found the culprit: frozen strawberries sold to the school lunch program 
by a San Diego company named Andrew & Williamson. Investigators also 
discovered that some of the strawberries sold to the school lunch 
program had been illegally certified as domestically grown when, in 
fact, they had been grown in Mexico.
  Mr. President, these strawberries should never have been served in 
the school lunch program in the first place. By law, products sold to 
the school lunch program must be certified as being domestically grown.
  Companies have typically been trusted to do the right thing, but 
Andrew & Williamson chose to do something else. They chose to 
misrepresent their product's country of origin and over 200 people were 
poisoned as a result.
  But now, Mr. President, disturbing new information has come to light 
from the criminal case against Andrew & Williamson which indicates USDA 
officials may have had advance warning of the illegal strawberries. An 
article in Saturday's edition of the San Diego Union Tribune disclosed 
that USDA was alerted 1 week after the school lunch purchase from 
Andrew & Williamson that the fruit was from Mexico. In addition, the 
newspaper also reports that the Federal official at USDA who was 
alerted thought it serious enough to file an administrative report and 
wanted to investigate the charge, but was rebuffed by her supervisor.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the San Diego 
Union Tribune article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 1, 1997]

                    Berry Alert Came Week After Sale


       witness said he warned USDA that fruit was grown in mexico

                            (By Rex Dalton)

       A federal official received an early complaint in October 
     1996 that a San Diego company was illegally selling Mexican 
     strawberries to the federal government for school lunches, 
     according to newly released documents.
       That means the U.S. Department of Agriculture knew about 
     the sale four months before the strawberries were served in 
     February. The USDA did not investigate until after the 
     berries caused about 270 cases of hepatitis A in Michigan 
     schools in March.
       In fact, the 1.7 million pounds of frozen strawberries had 
     not been delivered to government warehouses when the warning 
     came in, shortly after the USDA's strawberry purchase was 
     announced Oct. 17, 1996.
       The disclosure of the early warning is in witness 
     statements recently released under unusual circumstances to 
     defense attorneys for Andrew & Williamson Sales Co. Inc. of 
     Otay Mesa.
       The stawberry-processing company and two executives were 
     indicted on charges of fraud and making false statements in 
     connection with the sale of Baja-grown fruit to the USDA for 
     the National School Lunch Program. The charges are not 
     related to contamination of the berries. Produce sold to the 
     program must be grown in the United States, according to 
     federal law.
       The witness statements were made in April to the USDA's 
     Office of the Inspector General, but were not disclosed to 
     defense attorneys until Oct. 14. The defense attorneys had 
     received many other witness statements and documents after 
     the June indictments.
       Joseph Milchen, the attorney for company founder Frederick 
     L. Williamson, said he received the key witness statements 
     from the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego. The U.S. 
     Attorney's Office informed Milchen it sent the statements 
     right after getting them from the USDA.
       Williamson, 60, of Oceanside has pleaded innocent. The 
     other executive, Richard H. Kershaw, has pleaded guilty.
       The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in September that at 
     least three leaders in the California strawberry industry 
     told USDA officials in January that Mexican strawberries 
     were being sold illegally to the lunch program. The 
     berries were served around Valentine's Day and the 
     hepatitis A cases developed within a few weeks.
       At congressional hearings in the spring on the hepatitis A 
     epidemic, USDA officials testified they only had vague 
     allegations about a possible illegal sale shortly before the 
     outbreak.
       When Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., learned The Union-
     Tribune had reported the USDA had evidence in January of an 
     illegal strawberry sale, he expressed outrage and called for 
     a Senate hearing on the USDA's handling of the strawberry 
     sale.
       Sen. Paul D. Coverdell, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate 
     Agriculture Subcommittee on Marketing, Inspection and Product 
     Promotion, then began working to set up the hearing into the 
     USDA's accountability.
       Against this backdrop of heightened concern about food 
     safety and imported produce, the new witness statements were 
     released in San Diego.
       Phillip L.B. Halpern, an assistant U.S. attorney whose 
     office is handling the Andrew & Williamson prosecution, could 
     not be reached for an interview.
       USDA officials in Washington declined to comment.
       The agency is continuing to investigate the Mexican 
     strawberry sale, which also has been linked to nearly 50 
     cases of hepatitis A in Maine, Louisiana and Wisconsin. 
     Federal authorities believe a field worker in Mexico 
     accidentally contaminated the fruit while it was being picked 
     in April and May 1996.
       Hepatitis A is spread through contact with human fecal 
     matter. Investigators who later visited farm fields where the 
     berries were grown found outhouses adjacent to rows of 
     strawberries, and no ready method for harvesters to wash 
     their hands. The virus can cause nausea, vomiting, fever and 
     jaundice. In rare cases, it can be fatal.
       The key witness statement that recently was released was 
     made by Frederick J. Haas, who operates a Watsonville produce 
     sales operation called U.S. Food Service.
       As the USDA's Office of the Inspector General began its 
     probe, Haas made separate statements on different dates in 
     April.
       In an April 8 statement, Haas told the inspector general's 
     office he called the USDA's Sandra K. Gardei in January and 
     told her about the Mexican strawberry issue. Gardei oversaw 
     the October 1996 strawberry purchase.
       That statement and those of other witnesses were provided 
     to Andrew & Williamson defense attorneys last summer.
       But not until Oct. 14 did the defense attorneys receive an 
     ``addendum'' statement that Haas made April 15 and an April 
     11 statement by Haas' administrative assistant, Jeanette 
     Baum.
       Those statements detail how on Oct. 24, 1996--just a week 
     after the announcement of the USDA's purchase of frozen 
     strawberries--Gardei was called about the use of Mexican 
     strawberries.
       Haas' April 15 statement says he told Gardei the USDA 
     should not purchase the strawberries from Andrew & 
     Williamson's brokers ``because that product was grown in 
     Mexico.''
       After the strawberries first were linked to hepatitis A in 
     Michigan on March 28, Gardei prepared an administrative 
     report for the USDA describing how she was alerted in January 
     and February about the Mexican fruit.
       In that administrative report, Gardei said she sought to 
     open an immediate investigation.
       She said in the administrative report that her USDA 
     superior, Darrell J. Breed, refused to open an investigation. 
     Gardei also said

[[Page S11591]]

     Breed ordered his secretary to remove copies of her 
     administrative report from USDA files.
       But Gardei's April 3 statement to USDA investigators makes 
     no mention of any calls in October from Haas or any other 
     California strawberry leader.
       Neither Gardei nor Breed have been available for interview. 
     Breed denies in his statement to the inspector general's 
     office that he sought to cover up or mislead USDA 
     investigators. His secretary denied in her statement that he 
     ordered her to remove Gardei's administrative report from 
     USDA files.
       While Michigan's Abraham had hoped to have a subcommittee 
     hearing soon to explore USDA handling of the strawberry 
     purchase and probe, congressional aides say it appears as if 
     no hearing will be held this year.
       Congressional aides say USDA Inspector General Roger C. 
     Viadero has asked to meet privately with interested 
     legislators about the issue.

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, this information, if true, is very 
inconsistent with what was asserted by Federal officials at a June 5 
hearing of the full Agriculture Committee. There, USDA officials 
testified at the hearing that they knew nothing more than nonspecific 
and vague complaints of potential violations at Andrew & Williamson, 
the San Diego company which sold the fruit to the Government for school 
lunches.
  If the newspaper article and witness allegations are true, it would 
certainly raise serious questions as to whether the full committee and 
this Senator were misled. I believe we are owed an explanation and 
suggest the Government officials involved be called to testify under 
oath regarding their actions.
  Senator Coverdell has written USDA to ask for a response to these 
serious charges, but so far nothing has been heard. It is my intention 
to keep pressing the USDA for answers as well as seek the appropriate 
oversight of this matter. I want to be sure that the Government 
agencies responsible for protecting us are doing their job.
  This dangerous incident, the poisoning of Michigan children by their 
own School Lunch Program, should concern us all, Mr. President. The 
company involved seems to have demonstrated a reckless disregard for 
public safety.
  To that end, I have introduced legislation which makes such conduct a 
felony with a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine of 
$250,000 per count. This change in law will ensure that individuals who 
intentionally misrepresent their goods will now suffer the appropriate 
consequences of their actions. The recent outbreaks of hepatitis A, 
cyclospora and E. coli demonstrate that a new commitment to food safety 
is sorely needed in this country. I will continue working to see that 
Congress takes the appropriate measures to assist the USDA, FDA, and 
Centers for Disease Control in their efforts to keep America's food 
supply the safest in the world.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________