[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 29 (Monday, July 23, 2007)]
[Page 976]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With the Import Safety Working Group

July 18, 2007

    The American people expect their Government to work tirelessly to 
make sure consumer products are safe. And that is precisely what my 
administration is doing.
    I've called together key members of my Cabinet to review the 
procedures in place, the regulations in place, the practices in place to 
make sure that our food supply remains the safest in the world. The 
world is changing, and in order to make sure that we can continue to 
have the confidence of our consumers, that we will continually review 
practices and procedures to assure the American consumer.
    And so I've asked Mike Leavitt, the Secretary of HHS, to lead a task 
group that will report back to me in 60 days on a strategy that will 
review procedures in place and regulations in place to make sure that 
they're meeting the needs of a changing world; that part of our strategy 
is we work with our countries from which we import goods to make sure 
that their procedures and practices will give us comfort. And finally, 
we'll be working with companies that import goods from around the world 
to make sure that their practices meet the high standards that we set 
for the United States.
    This is a serious issue--food safety and consumer safety is a 
serious issue. We take it seriously, and we spend a lot of time on it in 
this administration. So, Michael, I want to thank you very much for 
taking on this task force. It's important for the American people to 
know their Government is on top of the situation and constantly 
reviewing procedures and practices. So thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House.