[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 23, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6911-S6913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FOOD SAFETY RAPID RESPONSE ACT OF 2009

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise today to talk for a few minutes 
about the Food Safety Rapid Response Act of 2009. I do this in 
conjunction with my colleague from the State of Minnesota, Senator 
Klobuchar. I recognize her first for her strong leadership on this 
legislation. She and I both are a member of the Senate Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. On that committee, she has been 
extremely active, and on this particular issue we have had the 
opportunity to dialog on any number of occasions. Thanks to her 
cooperation and her leadership, we have developed and are cosponsoring 
the Food Safety Rapid Response Act of 2009, which is designed to 
improve foodborne illness surveillance systems on the Federal, State, 
and local level, as well as improve communication and coordination 
among public health and food regulatory agencies.
  In the wake of the recent salmonella outbreak at the Peanut 
Corporation of America in my home State of Georgia, the Senate 
Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the response from the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug 
Administration. The mother of a victim of the outbreak testified at the 
hearing and shared her personal story and frustrations in dealing with 
numerous Federal bureaucracies over this issue.
  This hearing brought to light a clear need to develop a more 
effective national response to outbreaks of foodborne illness, 
especially in the area of coordination among public health and food 
regulatory agencies, to share findings and develop a centralized 
database. The Food Safety Rapid Response Act of 2009 will expedite much 
needed improvements to identify and respond to foodborne illnesses 
throughout the country.
  Key components of this legislation include the following: First, 
directing the CDC to enhance the Nation's foodborne disease 
surveillance system by improving the collection, analysis, reporting, 
and usefulness of data among local, State, and Federal agencies, as 
well as the food industry; second, directing the CDC to provide support 
and expertise to State health agencies and laboratories for their 
investigations of foodborne disease. This includes promoting best 
practices for food safety investigations. And, third, establishing 
regional food safety centers of excellence at select public health 
departments and higher education institutions around the country to 
provide increased resources, training, and coordination among State and 
local personnel.
  Both Senator Klobuchar and I are very proud of the excellent work 
done at universities in our respective home States in the area of food 
safety and epidemiology.
  The University of Georgia is home to the world-class Center for Food 
Safety

[[Page S6912]]

which has for more than 17 years assisted the CDC with foodborne 
disease outbreak investigations.
  The University of Georgia Center for Food Safety is known for its 
leadership in developing new methods for detecting, controlling, and 
eliminating harmful microbes found in foods and is the go-to 
organization for the CDC, FDA, and the food industry when seeking 
solutions to difficult food safety issues.
  The Center for Food Safety frequently provides FDA, CDC, and State 
health departments advice and assistance in isolating harmful bacteria, 
such as salmonella and E. coli O157 from foods.
  I am hopeful the Food Safety Response Act of 2009 will be considered 
as part of comprehensive food safety legislation in the months ahead. 
Both Senator Klobuchar and myself are cosponsors of the FDA Food Safety 
Modernization Act, a bipartisan measure to enhance current Food and 
Drug Administration authority to better protect our Nation's food 
supply.
  Whether produced domestically or imported, Americans must be able to 
trust that the food sold in their grocery stores and restaurants is 
safe and secure. It is critical to ensure that the Food and Drug 
Administration has the tools it needs to properly monitor and inspect 
the food that is consumed in this country.
  The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act affords regulators the 
authority they need to better identify vulnerabilities in our food 
supply while maintaining the high level of food safety most Americans 
enjoy and take for granted.
  The legislation calls for an increase in the frequency of FDA 
inspections at all food facilities, grants the FDA expanded access to 
records and testing results, and authorizes the FDA to order mandatory 
recalls should a private entity fail to do so voluntarily upon the 
FDA's request.
  The Food Safety Modernization Act strikes an appropriate balance for 
the various roles of Federal regulators, food manufacturers, and our 
Nation's farmers to ensure that Americans continue to enjoy the safest 
food supply in the world. America's farmers are committed to providing 
the safest food possible to their customers and have a decades-long 
history of implementing food safety improvements to prevent both 
deliberate and unintentional contamination of agricultural products as 
they make their way from the farm to the retail store or to a 
restaurant. However, we must also be realistic in our expectations. 
Food is grown in dirt, and as a result a zero-risk food supply will be 
impossible to achieve. It is a goal that we must strive for, while at 
the same time being ever mindful of the realities of food production 
and the detrimental consequences of applying unreasonable demands on 
our producers or our farmers.
  As the Congress updates our food safety laws, there will be indepth 
deliberations about specific provisions related to all aspects of food 
safety, such as product tracing, third-party audits, and facility 
inspections. As we tackle each of these issues, a few principles must 
guide our decisions.
  First, regulation and inspections must be science and risk based. 
Relying on science- and risk-based analysis will focus our efforts and 
resources to vulnerable aspects of our food supply instead of 
developing a regime that only establishes more redtape, burdensome 
recordkeeping, or Federal intrusion.
  Second, it is important to provide protections against unreasonable 
demands for records, as well as provide for protections against 
unauthorized disclosure of proprietary or confidential business 
information which the agency gains when reviewing the contents of 
written food safety plans and other records.
  Finally, FDA's food safety functions should be funded through Federal 
appropriations as opposed to registration fees that go into a general 
fund that may or may not be used to enhance inspections. Costly user 
fees or flat facility registration fees applicable to all types and 
sizes of facilities should not be considered. Such fees pose questions 
of equity, particularly for small businesses that consume a negligible 
share of FDA resources.
  An effective public-private partnership is critical to ensuring a 
safe food supply. The private sector has the responsibility to follow 
Federal guidelines and ensure the safety of their products. The Federal 
and State governments have the responsibility to oversee these efforts 
and take corrective actions when necessary. We need to have the ability 
to quickly identify gaps in the system and act swiftly to correct them. 
Both the Food Safety Rapid Response Act and the FDA Food Safety 
Modernization Act are important measures to achieve that goal.
  Again, Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Minnesota. It has 
been a privilege to work with her to this point. I look forward to 
continuing to move this legislation in a positive direction and in a 
short timeframe so that we can make sure we are giving all of our 
oversight personnel and our regulators the proper authority and the 
resources with which to do their job.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for 10 minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am proud to stand here today with Mr. 
Chambliss, the Senator from Georgia, in speaking out in favor of our 
bill to bring food safety to this country. It is interesting that we 
introduced this bill together because, of course, this latest outbreak 
that got so much attention nationally with the Peanut Corporation of 
America started in Georgia. No one knew that at the time as people got 
sick across the country, and it ended in Minnesota where, after three 
deaths in my State, it was the Minnesota Department of Health and the 
University of Minnesota working together that once again solved the 
problem, figuring out where the salmonella was coming from.
  Today a Republican Senator from Georgia and a Democratic Senator from 
Minnesota have come together to introduce this bill to say we want to 
do everything we can to prevent this from happening in the first place. 
That is why we both support the FDA bill. But it is also to say, when 
it does happen, we want to catch things as soon as possible so we have 
less people who get sick, less people who die, and a lot of that has to 
do with best practices. I am proud to stand with the Senator from 
Georgia today.
  This past week, our country saw another food recall due to the 
outbreak of E. coli caused by refrigerated cookie dough manufactured by 
Nestle. The outbreak has sickened at least 65 people in 29 States, and 
it is the latest in a series of foodborne outbreaks in the last 2 
years, or at the least, the outbreaks we know of since many cases of 
foodborne illness are never reported or those that are reported are 
never linked to an identifiable common source.
  In the spring and summer of 2007, as you may recall, hundreds of 
people across the country were getting sick from salmonella. The source 
was ultimately traced to jalapeno peppers imported from Mexico.
  Last fall, hundreds of people, as we just talked about, across the 
country again fell ill to salmonella. Again, this was traced back to 
the peanut butter processing plant in Georgia. In the meantime, nine 
people died from salmonella poisoning, three of them in my home State 
of Minnesota.
  In both of these outbreaks, more than half of the people who got sick 
or died did so before there was any consumer advisory or recall. Half 
of these people got sick or died before there was a consumer advisory 
or recall. In the case of the jalapeno peppers, people had been getting 
sick for almost 2 months before the advisory was issued about tomatoes, 
the original suspect, which turned out to be incorrect, hurting that 
industry. It was nearly 3 months before the first illness was reported 
in Minnesota, and then, once again, solved in Minnesota.
  In the case of the peanut butter, people were getting sick for 3 
months before the first illness was reported in my home State. For 3 
months people got sick all across the country, and it was only when 
they got sick or died in Minnesota that it got solved.
  We have to fix this situation. I am proud of my State. I am proud it 
was able to catch these two major food outbreaks. But we have to be 
doing it in other places as well.

[[Page S6913]]

  The breakthrough in identifying the sources of contamination did not 
come from the Centers for Disease Control, despite their good work. It 
did not come from the Food and Drug Administration. It did not come 
from the National Institutes of Health. The breakthrough came from the 
work of the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department 
of Agriculture, as well as a collaborative effort with the University 
of Minnesota School of Public Health. This initiative has earned a 
remarkable national reputation.
  With all due respect to their exemplary work, the Nation should not 
have to wait until someone from Minnesota gets sick or dies from 
tainted food before there is an effective national response to 
investigate and identify the causes. The problem is that the 
responsibility to investigate potential foodborne diseases rests 
largely with local and State health departments, and that is OK, if it 
worked everywhere the way it does in Minnesota. There is tremendous 
variation from State to State in terms of the priority and the 
resources they dedicate to this responsibility.
  In Minnesota, it is a high priority, and we have dedicated 
professionals who have developed sophisticated procedures for 
detecting, investigating, and tracking cases of foodborne illnesses.
  The peanut butter salmonella outbreak was so extensive and so 
shocking that it has finally put food safety on the agenda in 
Washington. It is a crowed agenda, as we all know, but food safety must 
be there.
  In March, I joined with a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce 
the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, which would overhaul the 
Federal Government's food safety system. Other cosponsors are Senators 
Dick Durbin, Judd Gregg, Ted Kennedy, Richard Burr, Chris Dodd, Lamar 
Alexander, and Saxby Chambliss.
  This legislation is a comprehensive approach to strengthening the 
Food and Drug Administration's authority and resources. But I believe 
there is still much more that can and should be done. That is why, 
along with Senator Chambliss, I have introduced the Food Safety Rapid 
Response Act. This legislation focuses on the Centers for Disease 
Control, as well as State and local capabilities, for responding to 
foodborne illness. It has three main provisions.

  First, it would direct the Centers for Disease Control to enhance 
foodborne surveillance systems to improve the collection, analysis, 
reporting, and usefulness of data on foodborne systems. This includes 
better sharing of information among Federal, State, and local agencies, 
as well as with the food industry and the public. It also includes 
developing improved epidemiology tools and procedures to better detect 
foodborne disease clusters and improve tracebacks to identify the 
contaminated food products.
  I can tell you, our State is proud to be the home of Hormel, 
Schwan's, Land O'Lakes, General Mills, and many other food processing 
companies, and they are eager to help because oftentimes they know the 
best way to trace back these foodborne illnesses. They want to have 
safe food and they are interested in helping.
  Second, it would direct the Centers for Disease Control to work with 
State level agencies to improve foodborne illness surveillance. This 
includes providing support to State laboratories and agencies for 
outbreak investigations with needed specialty expertise. It also 
includes--and this is key--developing model practices at the State and 
local levels for responding to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks.
  This is about the Minnesota model, these best practices. What happens 
in Minnesota, I will tell you--and I will bet it is as expensive in 
some other States, but what we do is smart. We take a team of graduate 
students--sort of food detectives--and they work together. Instead of 
having it go all over the State to a county nurse in one county and 
someone else in another county, this group of graduate students, 
working under the supervision of doctors and people who are 
professionals in this area, literally calls all at once. They work next 
to each other and they call people who have been sick or who are sick 
and that way, at one moment in time, they are able to immediately 
figure out what the people were eating and where the food came from. 
There are sophisticated laboratory techniques that go on everywhere, 
but what works here is this teamwork with graduate students.
  Finally, this legislation would establish Food Safety Centers of 
Excellence. The goal is to set up regional food safety centers at 
select public health departments and higher education institutions. 
These collaborations would provide increased resources, training, and 
coordination for State and local officials so that other States can be 
doing exactly what Minnesota does. In particular, they would seek to 
distribute food safety best practices such as those that have become 
routine in my State.
  Dr. Osterholm, at the University of Minnesota, is a national food 
safety and disease expert. Many of you may have seen him featured 
nationally with the latest H1N1 flu outbreak. He is credited with the 
creation of the Minnesota program. He has said that the creation of 
regional programs modeled on Minnesota would go a long way to providing 
precisely the real-time support for outbreak investigations at the 
State and local levels that is so sorely needed.
  No one believes we are going to be able to do this all out of 
Washington. That is why we simply have to upgrade the places that our 
States are using, so when there is an outbreak we don't have to wait 
for people to get sick or die in Minnesota to solve these problems.
  The recent outbreaks have shaken our confidence and trust in the food 
we eat. According to the Centers for Disease Control, foodborne disease 
causes about 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 
deaths in the United States each year. Yet for every foodborne illness 
that is reported, it is estimated that as many as 40 more illnesses are 
not reported or confirmed by a lab.
  The annual cost of medical care, lost productivity, and premature 
deaths due to foodborne illnesses is estimated to be $44 billion. So 
there is a lot at stake, both in terms of life and money. I believe we 
can do so much better. I believe it because I have seen it in my State.
  Senator Chambliss, from the State of Georgia, where this latest 
outbreak occurred, believes it because he has seen the devastation to 
an industry's own State, where when you have one bad actor and then it 
gets out there and more people get sick and die, it doesn't help anyone 
in this country. The tragedy of so many families--three in my own 
State--hurts tremendously. So we know we can do better, and that is why 
we are introducing this bill on a bipartisan basis.
  As a former prosecutor, I have always believed the first 
responsibility of government is to protect its citizens. When people 
get sick or die from contaminated food, the government must take 
aggressive and immediate action. I believe that together the Food 
Safety Rapid Response Act and the Food Safety Modernization Act will 
strengthen food safety in America and ultimately save both lives and 
money.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Florida.

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