[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5963-S5965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. Frist, Mr. Abraham, Ms. Snowe, 
        Mr. Jeffords, and Mr. Coverdell):
  S. 1123. A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 
improve the safety of imported food, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.


                  Imported Food Safety Improvement Act

 Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, food safety is a serious and 
growing public health concern. According to the General Accounting 
Office (GAO), as many as 81 million cases of foodborne illness and 
9,000 related deaths occur in the U.S. every year. Most at risk are the 
very old, the very young, and the very ill. While these statistics 
refer to all cases of foodborne illness, recent outbreaks demonstrate 
that tainted imported foods have increased the incidence of illness and 
have exposed American consumers to new pathogens.
  The volume of imported foods continues to grow, yet our current food 
import system is riddled with holes which allow unsafe food to 
penetrate our borders. Contaminated food imports have caused illnesses 
rarely seen in the United States and can be extremely difficult, if not 
impossible, for consumers to detect.
  I first became interested in this issue when I learned that fruit 
from Mexico and Guatemala was associated with three multi-state 
outbreaks of foodborne illesses--one of hepatitis A and two of 
Cyclospora infection--that sickened thousands of Americans. These 
outbreaks included victims in my home State of Maine.
  In my State's grocery stores, as in any typical American grocery 
store, the fresh fruit and vegetables that are available during the 
winter months come from many other countries. In many ways, imported 
food is a blessing for American consumers. Fruit and vegetables that 
would normally be unavailable in our local grocery stores during the 
winter months are now available all year long, making it easier and 
more enjoyable to eat the five servings of fruit and vegetables a day 
the National Cancer Institute recommends. But, it's only a blessing if 
the food is safe. Even one serving of tainted food can cause sickness 
and even death.
  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that the increasing 
importation of produce is a trend that is expected to continue. In 
1996, the U.S. imported $7.2 billion worth of fruit and vegetables from 
at least 90 different countries, a dramatic increase from the 1990 
level of $4.8 billion. Total food imports have increased from 1.1 
million shipments in 1992 to 2.7 million in 1997. And, of all the fish 
and shellfish consumed in the U.S., more than half is imported.
  Yet, the FDA annually inspects less than 2 percent of the 2.7 million 
shipments of food that arrive in the U.S. And of the small number of 
shipments that are inspected, only about a third are tested for some of 
the most significant pathogens. What's more, even when the FDA does 
catch contaminated food, the system often fails to dispose of it 
adequately. Indeed, according to one survey conducted by the Customs 
Service in 1997, as many as 70 percent of the imported food shipments 
the FDA ordered re-exported or destroyed may have ended up in U.S. 
commerce any way. Unscrupulous food importers can easily circumvent the 
inspection system.
  Mr. President, to respond to these problems, I am introducing the 
Imported Food Safety Improvement Act, with Senator Frist, Senator 
Abraham, Senator Coverdell, Senator Jeffords, and Senator Snowe as 
original cosponsors.
  Our legislation is an effort designed to strengthen the existing food 
import system to help ensure that unsafe food does not enter the United 
States. Our goal is to reduce the incidence of foodborne illnesses and 
to ensure that American families can enjoy a variety of foods year-
round without the risk of illness when they sit down to the dinner 
table.

[[Page S5964]]

  This legislation is the product of an extensive investigation by the 
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair. During the 
105th Congress, the Subcommittee undertook a 16-month, in-depth 
investigation into the safety of food imports. During five days of 
Subcommittee hearings, we heard testimony from 29 witnesses, including 
scientists, industry and consumer representatives, government 
officials, the General Accounting Office, and two persons with first-
hand knowledge of the seamier side of the imported food industry, a 
convicted Customs broker and a convicted former FDA inspector. As a 
result of the compelling testimony that we heard, I have worked with my 
colleagues in drafting the legislation we introduce today--the Imported 
Food Safety Improvement Act--to address a broad array of problems 
uncovered during the Subcommittee's investigation.
  My Subcommittee's investigation has revealed much about the food we 
import into this country and the government's flawed food safety net. 
Let me briefly recount some of our findings which make it clear why 
this legislation is so urgently needed:
  In the worlds of the GAO, ``federal efforts to ensure the safety of 
imported food are inconsistent and unreliable.'' Federal agencies have 
not effectively targeted their resources on imported foods posing the 
greatest risks;
  Weaknesses in FDA import controls, specifically the ability of 
importers to control the food shipments from the port to the point of 
distribution, makes the system vulnerable to fraud and deception;
  The bonds required to be posted by importers who violate food safety 
laws are so low that they are considered by some unscrupulous importers 
at the cost of doing business;
  Maintaining the food safety net for imported food is an increasingly 
complex task, made more complicated by previously unknown foodborne 
pathogens, like Cyclospora, that are difficult to detect;
  Because some imported food can be contaminated by organisms that 
cannot be detected by visual inspection or laboratory tests, placing 
additional federal inspectors at ports-of-entry alone will not protect 
Americans from unsafe food imports; and
  Since contamination of imported food can occur at many different 
places from the farm to the table, the ability to trace-back outbreaks 
of foodborne illnesses to the source of contamination is a complex 
process that requires a more coordinated effort among the federal, 
state, and local agencies as well as improved education for health care 
providers so that they can better recognize and treat foodborne 
illnesses.
  The testimony that I heard during my Subcommittee's hearings was 
troubling. The United States Customs Service told us of one 
particularly egregious situation that I would like to share. It 
involves contaminated fish and illustrates the challenges facing 
federal regulators who are charged with ensuring the safety of our 
nation's food supply.
  In 1996, federal inspectors along our border with Mexico opened a 
shipment of seafood destined for sales to restaurants in Los Angeles. 
The shipment was dangerously tainted with life-threatening 
contaminants, including botulism, Salmonella, and just plain filth. 
Much to the surprise of the inspectors, this shipment of frozen fish 
had been inspected before by federal authorities. Alarmingly, in fact, 
it had arrived at our border two years before, and had been rejected by 
the FDA as unfit for consumption. Its importers then held this rotten 
shipment for two years before attempting to bring it into the country 
again, by a different route.
  The inspectors only narrowly prevented this poisoned fish from 
reaching American plates. And what happened to the importer who tried 
to sell this deadly food to American consumers? In effect, nothing. He 
was placed on probation and asked to perform 50 hours of community 
service.
  I suppose we should be thankful that the perpetrators were caught and 
held responsible. After all, the unsafe food might have escaped 
detection and reached our tables. But it worries me that the importer 
essentially received a slap on the wrist. I believe that forfeiting the 
small amount of money currently required for the Custom's bond, which 
importers now consider no more than a ``cost of doing business,'' does 
little to deter unscrupulous importers from trying to slip tainted fish 
that is two years old past overworked Customs agents.
  All too often, unscrupulous importers are never discovered. The 
General Accounting Office testified about a special operation known as 
Operation Bad Apple, conducted by Customs at the Port of San Francisco 
in 1997, identified 23 weaknesses in the controls over FDA-regulated 
imported food. For example, under current law, importers retain custody 
of their shipments from the time they arrive at the border. The 
importers must also put up a bond and agree to ``redeliver'' the 
shipment to Customs, for reexport or destruction, if ordered to do so 
or forfeit the bond. However, Operation Bad Apple revealed a very 
disturbing fact. Of the shipments found to violate U.S. standards, 
thereby requiring redelivery to Customs for destruction or re-export, a 
full 40 percent were never returned. The Customs Service believes an 
additional 30 percent of shipments that the FDA required to be returned 
contained good products that the importers had substituted for the 
original bad products. Customs further believes that the violative 
products were on their way to the marketplace. This means that a total 
of 70  percent of products ordered returned, because they were unsafe, 
presumably entered into U.S. commerce.

  Weak import controls make our system all too easy to circumvent. 
After all, FDA only physically inspects about 17 of every 1,000 food 
shipments and, of the food inspected, only about a third is actually 
tested. That is why we have worked with the FDA, the Customs Service, 
and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to ensure that our 
legislation addresses many of the issues explored over the course of 
the Subcommittee's investigation and hearings. Let me describe what 
this bill is designed to accomplish.
  Our legislation will fill the existing gaps in the food import system 
and provide the FDA with certain stronger authority to protect American 
consumers against tainted food imports. First and foremost, this bill 
gives the FDA the authority to stop such food from entering our 
country. This authority allows the FDA to deny the entry of imported 
food that has caused repeated outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, 
presents a reasonable probability of causing serious adverse health 
consequences, and is likely without systemic changes to cause disease 
again.
  Second, this legislation includes the authority for the FDA to 
require secure storage of shipments offered by repeat offenders prior 
to their release into commerce, to prohibit the practice of ``port-
shopping,'' and to mark boxes containing violative foods as ``U.S.--
Refused Entry.'' This latter authority, which would allow the FDA to 
clearly mark boxes containing contaminated foods, is currently used 
with success by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and has been 
requested specifically by the FDA. Our bill also will require the 
destruction of certain imported foods that cannot be adequately 
reconditioned to ensure safety. Third, the legislation directs the FDA 
to develop criteria for use by private laboratories used to collect and 
analyze samples of food offered for import. This will ensure the 
integrity of the testing process.
  Fourth, the bill will give ``teeth'' to the current food import 
system by establishing two strong deterrents--the threats of high bonds 
and of debarment--for unscrupulous importers who repeatedly violate 
U.S. law. No longer will the industry's ``bad actors'' be able to 
profit from endangering the health of American consumers.
  Finally, our bill will authorize the CDC to award grants to state and 
local public health agencies to strengthen the public health 
infrastructure by updating essential items such as laboratory and 
electronic-reporting equipment. Grants will also be available for 
universities to develop new and improved tests to detect pathogens and 
for professional schools and professional societies to develop programs 
to increase the awareness of foodborne illness among healthcare 
providers and the public.
  We believe the measures provided for in this legislation will help to 
curtail

[[Page S5965]]

the risks that unsafe food imports currently pose to our citizens, 
particularly our elderly, our children and our sick. I appreciate the 
advice and input we have received from scientists, industry and 
consumer groups, and the FDA, the CDC and the U.S. Customs Service in 
drafting this legislation.
  We are truly fortunate that the American food supply is one of the 
safest in the world. But, our system for safeguarding our people from 
tainted food imports is flawed and poses needless risks of serious 
foodborne illnesses. I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to 
provide our federal agencies with the direction, authority, and 
resources necessary to keep unsafe food out of the United States and 
off American dinner tables.
                                 ______