[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SAFETY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 8, 1999

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to rise today in support of 
improving the safety of foods which are imported into our country by 
introducing the Imported Food Safety Improvement Act of 1999. It's 
vital that we pass this bill into law this year, and I'm proud to lead 
the effort in the House of Representatives.
  We must act now to improve our food safety system so we don't face 
the health problems we've seen over the past several years caused by 
unsafe imported food. In 1987, the FDA recalled soft cheese from France 
after a pathogen was found that could cause miscarriages and sometimes 
death. In 19989, canned mushrooms from China caused four outbreaks of a 
form of food poisoning that can be fatal. In 1996, Guatemalan 
raspberries infected 7,000 people with an intestinal parasite that 
caused sickness. In 1997, 180 school children were infected with 
Hepatitis ``A'' in 1997, after eating strawberries imported from 
Mexico.
  According to the FDA, all these incidents could have been prevented 
had the Imported Food Safety Improvement Act been law. Public health 
experts estimate that foodborne pathogens kill 9,000 people every year 
and cause illness in up to 33 million. And the problem is getting 
worse.
  HHS officials project that the reported incidences of foodborne 
disease will increase 10-5 percent during the next decade at a cost of 
up to $35 billion a year in health-care costs and losses in 
productivity.
  In 1998, a GAO study confirmed that, under the current food safety 
system, the Federal Government can't ensure that imported foods are 
safe for consumption. While the volume of imported food has doubled 
over the last five years, the number of FDA inspections has decreased 
during the same time period. The result is that the FDA is able to 
inspect less than 2 percent of all imported food. We're losing the 
battle against foodborne illness. The Imported Food Safety Improvement 
Act gives the FDA the authority to ban food from countries or importers 
that have a history of importing contaminated food.
  The Act establishes an equivalency authority which requires that food 
offered for import to the U.S. be produced, prepared, packed, or held 
under systems that provide the same level of protection as the United 
States. This bill lays out the criteria for when the FDA can deny a 
food import and makes clear that denial cannot violate any current 
trade laws. By establishing this health-based standard, we can both 
ensure the safety of imported foods and make certain that producers and 
importers from foreign nations receive fair treatment for their 
product.
  Passage of the Imported Food Safety Improvement Act will give FDA the 
ability to prevent illness, inform health officials and the public, and 
enforce food-safety laws so that the American people can be confident 
that what they put on their kitchen tables won't make them sick.

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