[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.
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