[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11396-S11397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, tomorrow, Chairman Tom Harkin will lead 
the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the markup of a 
food safety bill, S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. I 
introduced this bill with Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and a 
broad coalition of Senators from both sides of the aisle. I thank those 
Senators--especially the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who joined as a 
cosponsor of the bill, and Senators Dodd, Burr, Isakson, Alexander, 
Klobuchar, and Chambliss--for joining me to fight for America's food 
safety. Since we introduced this bill, a number of other Members have 
signed on, including Senators Hatch, Gillibrand, Tom Udall, and Senator 
Burris. We are pleased to have their support. There is bipartisan 
support for the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act because food safety 
is not a partisan issue. The safety of our food supply affects 
everybody every day.
  As we learned from recent events, eating unsafe food--whether it is 
spinach contaminated with E. coli, peanut butter laced with salmonella 
or melamine-spiked candy--can lead to serious illness and death. Every 
year 76 million Americans suffer from preventable foodborne illness; 
325,000 are hospitalized each year and 5,000 will die. Every 5 minutes, 
three people are rushed to the hospital because the food they ate made 
them sick. At the end of each day, 13 will die. The tragedy of these 
deaths is clear. We certainly recognize the anguish of loved ones who 
lose someone to food contamination. What is less understood are the 
long-term consequences for those who do survive. Victims are affected 
for months, sometimes years, after they leave the hospital.
  Last week, the Center for Foodborne Illness, Research & Prevention 
released a report on the long-term health consequences of foodborne 
illness. The report shows it is often the lasting damage that causes 
more pain and suffering than the immediate effects felt right after 
eating contaminated food. That means that after the initial stomach 
aches and diarrhea have run their course, many foodborne illness 
victims will suffer from a lifetime of paralysis, kidney failure, 
seizures and mental disability and sometimes premature death. What is 
worse, children, pregnant women, and elderly Americans are among the 
most vulnerable.
  I wish to show you a photo of this lovely young girl. Her name is 
Rylee. She knows the story of foodborne illness personally. On the 
morning of her ninth birthday, Rylee learned her family would celebrate 
by taking a road trip to an aquarium. Rylee couldn't have been more 
excited. Similar to many 9-year-olds, this cute little girl loved to 
sing and dance. On the morning of her birthday, she was doing both. 
Before the end of the day, Rylee was rushed to the hospital, where she 
was hospitalized for a month. Before she got to the aquarium, Rylee ate 
a salad. What she didn't know was the salad contained spinach that was 
laced with E. coli. The next day, Rylee had a stomach ache and severe 
diarrhea.
  Her condition continued to worsen. Days later she was in excruciating 
pain. Her blood pressure was abnormally low. She was dehydrated, and 
her kidneys began to fail. As her parents watched in horror, Rylee 
began to hallucinate on the hospital bed. Rylee and her family were 
suffering more pain than they ever thought imaginable--all because 
Rylee had eaten a salad she thought was safe.
  She escaped this incident with her life. But she, like millions of 
foodborne illness victims, will endure health complications 
indefinitely. She will need multiple kidney transplants over the course 
of her life. She had to endure a painful surgery and challenging speech 
therapy, so she can no longer sing or speak with a loud voice.
  Rylee has not given up hope. She was recently walking the Halls of 
Congress advocating for food safety reform. I heard her share her story 
with hundreds of parents, victims, and other supporters of the Make Our 
Food Safe Coalition.
  Although her voice is now permanently softer and lower than it was 
before her illness, we heard Rylee's message loudly and clearly: All 
Americans deserve food that is safe.
  Mr. President, I would like to show you another photo I have in the 
Chamber. This is a picture of Mary Ann of Mendota, IL. She is 80 years 
old. Mary Ann is pictured with her young grandson. I shared her story 
with the HELP Committee just a few weeks ago.
  Mary Ann was planning a big Labor Day family celebration, and she 
decided to make a spinach salad. She used spinach which she did not 
know was contaminated with E. coli.
  Hours after eating the spinach, Mary Ann was sprawled across her 
bathroom floor--vomiting violently and experiencing uncontrollable 
diarrhea. Then her kidneys failed.
  Instead of spending time with her family on that holiday, she spent 
it in the hospital, staying there for 6 weeks, receiving medical 
treatment intravenously. Thankfully, Mary Ann is alive, but the quality 
of her life is never going to be the same.
  This country has a good system, and most of our food is safe. But 
there are far too many lives--such as Mary Ann's and Rylee's--that have 
been compromised by the long-term effects of foodborne illness.
  Parsing the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act is an important step 
toward ensuring that the food we eat is safe and that we no longer hear 
these heartbreaking stories. This act will finally provide the FDA with 
the authority and resources it needs to prevent, detect, and respond to 
food safety problems.
  The bill will increase the frequency of inspection at all food 
facilities, according to the risk they present. Because FDA does not 
currently have the resources or statutory mandate to inspect more 
frequently, most facilities are only inspected by the FDA about once 
every decade. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will require high-
risk facilities to be inspected annually. Lower risk facilities would 
be inspected every 4 years.
  The bill gives the FDA long-overdue authority to conduct mandatory 
recalls of contaminated food. Most people are stunned to know that the 
Federal Government does not have the authority to recall contaminated 
food. This bill will change that when it is signed into law.
  Most companies cooperate with the FDA's recall efforts, but we have 
to make sure those who hesitate and are uncooperative are called into 
line.
  Some--such as the Peanut Corporation of America, which distributed 
thousands of pounds of peanuts and peanut paste contaminated with 
salmonella--did not fully or quickly recall the food that was on the 
markets that made people sick. The food safety bill in HELP will change 
that by ensuring that the FDA can compel a company to recall food.
  Experts agree that individual businesses are in the best position to 
identify and prevent food safety hazards. People who run these 
facilities know where the vulnerabilities are on their assembly lines, 
and they know which hazards the food products they work with are most 
at risk for. That is why the bill asks each business to identify the 
food safety hazards at each of its locations and then implement a plan 
that addresses the hazards.
  The bill gives FDA the authority to review and evaluate those food 
safety hazard prevention plans and to hold companies accountable for 
not complying with the requirements of the plan.
  Finally, the bill gives the FDA the authority to prevent contaminated 
food from other countries from entering the United States. Importers 
will have to verify the safety of foreign suppliers and imported food 
so we know the food we are bringing into our country is safe. If a 
foreign facility refuses U.S. food safety inspections, the FDA will 
then have the authority to deny entry to imports from that facility.
  The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act employs these and other 
commonsense approaches to help the FDA do its job of ensuring the food 
we eat is safe. The bill is balanced, bipartisan, and it is supported 
by a broad coalition

[[Page S11397]]

of not just consumer advocates but the major business interests in food 
production and marketing.
  I thank Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming 
for leading the markup of S. 510. I hope this bill will come to the 
Senate floor. I know my Republican colleagues who have joined me as 
cosponsors believe, as I do, this is a step in the right direction of 
ensuring the food supply in America is even safer.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, would you kindly let me know when 9 
minutes have expired in my remarks?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator will be notified.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. President.

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