[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 29 (Thursday, March 14, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1936-S1937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. 
        Schumer):
  S. 2013. A bill to clarify the authority of the Secretary of 
Agriculture to prescribe performance standards for the reduction of 
pathogens in meat, meat products, poultry, and poultry products 
processed by establishments receiving inspection services; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Meat and 
Poultry Pathogen Reduction Act of 2002. On December 6, 2001, the Fifth 
Circuit Court of Appeals upheld and expanded an earlier District Court 
decision that removes the U.S. Department of Agriculture's, USDA, 
authority to enforce its Pathogen Performance Standard for Salmonella. 
Passage of this bill is vital because the Fifth Circuit's decision in 
Supreme Beef v. USDA, Supreme Beef, seriously weakens the substantial 
food safety improvements adopted by USDA in its 1996 Hazard Analysis 
Critical Control Point and Pathogen Reduction, HACCP, rule.
  According the Fifth Circuit's opinion in Supreme Beef, today, USDA 
does not have the authority to enforce Performance Standards for 
reducing viral and bacterial pathogens. This decision seriously 
undermines the new meat and poultry inspection system.
  The Pathogen Performance Standard rule recognized that bacterial and 
viral pathogens were the foremost food safety threat in America, 
responsible for 5,000 deaths, 325,000 hospitalizations and 76 million 
illnesses each year. To address the threat of foodborne illness, USDA 
developed a modern inspection system based on two fundamental 
principles.
  The first was that industry has the primary responsibility to 
determine how to produce the safest products possible. Industry must 
examine its plants and determine how to control contamination 
throughout the food production process, from the moment a product 
arrives at their door until the moment it leave their plant.
  The second, even more crucial principle was that plants nationwide 
must reduce levels of dangerous pathogens in meat and poultry products. 
To ensure the new inspection system accomplished this, USDA developed 
Pathogen Performance Standards. These standards provide targets for 
reducing levels of pathogens and require all USDA-inspected facilities 
to meet them. Facilities failing to meet a standard may be shut down 
until they create a corrective action plan to meet the standard.

  So far, USDA has only issued one Pathogen Performance Standard, for 
Salmonella. The vast majority of plants in the U.S. have been able to 
meet the new standard, so it is clearly workable. in addition, USDA 
reports that Salmonella levels for meat and poultry products have 
fallen substantially. The Salmonella standard, therefore has been 
successful. The Fifth Circuit Court's decision threatens to destroy 
this success and set our food safety system back by years.
  The other major problem is that we have an industry dead set on 
striking down USDA's authority to enforce meat and poultry pathogen 
standards. Ever since the original Supreme Beef decision, I have spent 
many hours trying to find a compromise that will allow us to ensure we 
have enforceable, science-based standards for pathogens in meat and 
poultry products. I have previously introduced legislation to address 
this issue and I have worked with industry leaders attempting to reach 
a reasonable compromise.
  However, despite repeated attempts to address industry concerns, 
industry has continually back-tracked and moved the finish line. Many 
times, I have made changes in my legislation to address their concerns 
of the moment only to have them come back and say we have not gone far 
enough. We cannot let the intransigence of the meat and poultry 
industry place our children and our families at increased risk of 
getting ill or dying, because some in the industry want to backtrack on 
food safety.
  I plan to seek every opportunity to get the Meat and Poultry Pathogen 
Reduction Act enacted. I think it is essential, both to ensuring the 
modernization of our food safety system, and ensuring consumers that we 
are making progress in reducing dangerous pathogens.
  I hope that both parties, and both houses of Congress will be able to 
act to pass this legislation without delay. The public's confidence in 
our meat and poultry inspection system depends on it.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I am joining Senator Harkin in 
introducing legislation that will clarify the United States Department 
of Agriculture's, USDA, authority to enforce pathogen reduction 
standards in meat and poultry products. I am pleased to join in this 
very important effort.
  Make no mistake, our country has been blessed with one of the safest 
and most abundant food supplies in the world. However, we can do 
better. While food may never be completely free of risk, we must strive 
to make our food as safe as possible. Foodborne illnesses and hazards 
are still a significant problem that cannot be passively dismissed.
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, estimate that as 
many as 76 million people suffer from foodborne illnesses each year. Of 
those individuals, approximately 325,000 will be hospitalized, and more 
than 5,000 will die. Children and the elderly are especially 
vulnerable. In terms of medical costs and productivity losses, 
foodborne illnesses cost the nation billions of dollars annually, and 
the situation is not likely to improve without decisive action. In 
fact, the Department of Health and Human Services

[[Page S1937]]

predicts that foodborne illnesses and deaths will increase 10-15 
percent over the next decade.
  In an age where our Nation's food supply is facing tremendous 
pressures, from emerging pathogens to an ever-growing volume of food 
imports, from changing food consumption patterns to an aging population 
susceptible to food-related illnesses, and from age-old bacterial 
threats to new potential food security risks, we must have a stronger 
system in place to ensure the safety of our food.
  A key tool for addressing foodborne illness in this country has been 
USDA's Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, 
PR/HACCP, regulations that were phased in beginning in January 1998. 
Under these regulations, USDA developed a scientific approach aimed at 
protecting consumers from foodborne pathogens. Instead of a system 
based on sight, smell and touch, USDA moved to a system that would 
successfully detect harmful pathogens whether visible or not and keep 
them from entering the food supply. A major part of this system 
included testing for Salmonella, which is not only one of the most 
common foodborne pathogens, but also one of the easiest to detect. USDA 
used this testing data to determine if meat and poultry plants were 
producing products that were safe for human health.
  Research indicates that USDA's system was working well. According to 
former Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, the testing techniques 
were successful in controlling Salmonella and other deadly pathogens. 
In less than three years, the Salmonella standard was working, cutting 
the incidence of Salmonella in ground beef by a third.
  USDA's pathogen testing regulations provided consumers with much 
needed confidence in the safety of meat and poultry products. However, 
that confidence has been shattered by a recent court decision. Last 
December, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that USDA could not 
close down the meat processor Supreme Beef, Inc., a supplier providing 
products to our Nation's school children through the Federal school 
lunch program, even after USDA inspectors tested and found the presence 
of potentially harmful levels of Salmonella at the plant on three 
separate occasions. The result of this court case is that USDA can no 
longer ensure that meat and poultry plants comply with pathogen 
standards. This creates a significant risk that meat and poultry 
products contaminated with common but potentially deadly foodborne 
pathogens will be sold to unsuspecting consumers.
  The legislation we are introducing today will clarify USDA's 
authority to enforce strong safety standards for contamination in meat 
and poultry products. Specifically, this legislation will provide the 
Secretary of Agriculture with the clear authority to control for 
pathogens and enforce pathogen performance standards for meat and 
poultry products. Only with this authority will the Secretary of 
Agriculture be able to ensure the safety of the meat and poultry 
products sold in this country.
  The court's decision in the Supreme Beef case is a step back for food 
safety. We must work together to ensure that USDA has the necessary 
authority to enforce pathogen performance standards that will protect 
public health. Let's not turn our back on food safety and consumer 
protection at such a critical time for food safety and security. I 
encourage my colleagues to join us in this effort to protect our food 
supply and public health.
                                 ______