[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 11, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H7636-H7637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE ASSURED FOOD SAFETY ACT OF 2007

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, today, I'm introducing legislation to bring 
our food safety system into the 21st century by stopping the influx of 
unsafe food from countries like China.
  Mr. Speaker, over the last several months, the American public has 
begun to tune in on an issue which should have every American at the 
edge of their seats, the danger of tainted food from abroad. Food 
imports are constituting a larger and larger share of what we eat and 
what is sold at stores across our Nation.
  In 1996, our Nation had a huge positive agricultural trade balance of 
over $27 billion more exports going out than imports coming in. Today, 
that balance has dropped to only $8 billion, and we have wracked up 
enormous trade deficits of nearly $800 billion around the world, $230 
billion with China.
  With China constantly engaging in practices like unfairly 
manipulating their currency, the yuan, our agricultural trade policy is 
in dire need of change. For instance, individual shipments of food from 
China have recently been quoted as going from 82,000 shipments in 2002 
to 199,000 in 2006. This is a staggering increase. Unless we act to 
protect our consumers, the United States will become dangerously 
dependent on foreign agricultural imports while our domestic market 
falters.
  Take Chinese seafood imports. While they account for 22 percent of 
the domestic import market, Chinese goods account for 63 percent of 
seafood refused by inspectors at the border. Overall, Chinese food 
imports have quadrupled in 10 years, increasing from $880

[[Page H7637]]

million in 1996 to $4.2 billion in 2006. This increase of Chinese food 
imports over the last 10 years has not been followed by an equal 
increase of inspector activity. Therein lies the problem. Less than 2 
percent of what comes over our border for human consumption is 
inspected. Yes, you heard me right, less than 2 percent.
  As the Chinese share of American agricultural imports continues to 
grow, our domestic markets are impacted. For instance, unlike closely 
regulated domestic food additives, products like wheat gluten and 
vitamin C from China continue to flood our market. The last American 
vitamin C producer recently closed its doors, unable to compete against 
the flood of poorly regulated Chinese additives. So, when you take your 
vitamin pills, ask where the ingredients came from.
  Earlier this year, Europe narrowly avoided disaster when a batch of 
vitamin A was contaminated with an additive which has caused infant 
deaths. Luckily, the additive was removed before it contaminated infant 
formula.
  In a matter of weeks, the Chinese government went from denying the 
problems with their food chain to executing their lead food regulator 
and closing down almost 200 food factories. Estimates indicate that it 
will cost up to $100 billion over the next 10 years to build an 
infrastructure capable of certifying and protecting against Chinese 
agricultural goods. This should cause any American sitting down at the 
dinner table to think about drawing arms. We simply must do better.
  And that is what my bill, the Assured Food Safety Act of 2007, does. 
It uses a simple approach and puts the burden of keeping food safe on 
the producers and the country of origin. The bill will require 
countries exporting food products to the United States to provide a 
certificate of assured safety for each class of items. If safe 
certified food is found to cause consumer illnesses or deaths, 
producers can be held liable through our Federal courts. Producers 
liable for damage they cause? What a sensible idea.
  As a condition to accessing the American market, a producer must be 
willing to stand behind the quality of their product. Instead of 
relying on an inconsistent patchwork of international food standards, 
our consumers will be given the power to manage abuses directly through 
our legal system.
  The United States government has a duty not only to protect the 
American population from the bad apples of the world but to restore the 
American people's confidence in the food we eat. Next time you go to 
the grocery store to buy pet food or pick up onions, remember our bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the Assured Food Safety Act closes a serious loophole in 
our food safety regimen. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor our bill and 
help the American people regain confidence in our system.

               [From the Washington Post, April 23, 2007]

                         It's Not Just Pet Food

                           (By Peter Kovacs)

       Lost amid the anxiety surrounding the tainted U.S. pet food 
     supply is this sobering reality: It's not just pet owners who 
     should be worried. The uncontrolled distribution of low-
     quality imported food ingredients, mainly from China, poses a 
     grave threat to public health worldwide.
       Essential ingredients, such as vitamins used in many 
     packaged foods, arrive at U.S. ports from China and, as 
     recent news reports have underscored, are shipped without 
     inspection to food and beverage distributors and 
     manufacturers. Although they are used in relatively small 
     quantities, these ingredients carry enormous risks for 
     American consumers. One pound of tainted wheat gluten could, 
     if undetected, contaminate as much as a thousand pounds of 
     food.
       Unlike imported beef, which is inspected at the point of 
     processing by the U.S. Agriculture Department, few practical 
     safeguards have been established to ensure the quality of 
     food ingredients from China.
       Often, U.S. officials don't know where or how such 
     ingredients were produced. We know, however, that alarms have 
     been raised about hygiene and labor standards at many Chinese 
     manufacturing facilities. In China, municipal water used in 
     the manufacturing process is often contaminated with heavy 
     metals, pesticides and other chemicals. Food ingredient 
     production is particularly susceptible to environmental 
     contamination.
       Equally worrisome, U.S. officials often lack the capability 
     to trace foreign-produced food ingredients to their source of 
     manufacture. In theory, the Bioterrorism Prevention Act of 
     2001 provides some measure of traceability. In practice, the 
     act is ineffective and was not designed for this challenge. 
     Its enforcement is also shrouded in secrecy by the Department 
     of Homeland Security.
       Even if Food and Drug Administration regulators wanted to 
     crack down on products emanating from the riskiest foreign 
     facilities, they couldn't, because they have no way of 
     knowing which ingredients come from which plant. This is 
     why officials have spent weeks searching for the original 
     Chinese source of the contaminated wheat gluten that 
     triggered the pet food crisis.
       That it was pet food that got tainted--and that relatively 
     few pets were harmed--is pure happenstance. Earlier this 
     spring, Europe narrowly averted disaster when a batch of 
     vitamin A from China was found to be contaminated with 
     Enterobacter sakazakii, which has been proved to cause infant 
     deaths. Thankfully, the defective vitamin A had not yet been 
     incorporated into infant formula. Next time we may not be so 
     fortunate.
       Currently, most of the world's vitamins are manufactured in 
     China. Unable to compete, the last U.S. plant making vitamin 
     C closed a year ago. One of Europe's largest citric acid 
     plants shut last winter, and only one vitamin C manufacturer 
     operates in the West. Given China's cheap labor, artificially 
     low prices and the unfair competitive climate it has foisted 
     on the industry, few Western producers of food ingredients 
     can survive much longer.
       Western companies have had to invest heavily in Chinese 
     facilities. These Western-owned plants follow strict 
     standards and are generally better managed than their locally 
     owned counterparts. Nevertheless, 80 percent of the world's 
     vitamin C is now manufactured in China--much of it 
     unregulated and some of it of questionable quality.
       Europe is ahead of the United States in seeking greater 
     accountability and traceability in food safety and 
     importation. But even the European Union's ``rapid alert 
     system'' is imperfect. Additional action is required if the 
     continent is to avoid catastrophes.
       To protect consumers here, we must revise our regulatory 
     approaches. The first option is to institute regulations, 
     based on the European model, to ensure that all food 
     ingredients are thoroughly traceable. We should impose strict 
     liability on manufacturers that fail to enforce traceability 
     standards.
       A draconian alternative is to mount a program modeled on 
     USDA beef inspection for all food ingredients coming into the 
     country. This regimen would require a significant commitment 
     of resources and intensive training for hundreds of 
     inspectors.
       Food safety is a bipartisan issue: Congress and the 
     administration must work together and move aggressively to 
     devise stricter standards. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), 
     chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, has 
     deplored dangerous levels of lead in vitamin products 
     originating in China. We must get to the bottom of this 
     pressing public health issue, without self-defeating finger-
     pointing.
       The United States is sitting on a powder keg with 
     uncontrolled importation and the distribution of low-quality 
     food ingredients. Before it explodes--putting more animals 
     and people at risk--corrective steps must be taken.
       The writer was president of NutraSweet Kelco Co. from 1994 
     to 1997. He is a management consultant to many large food 
     ingredient companies.

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