Harkin Introduces Bill Strengthening Meat and Poultry Safety Rules

HARKIN INTRODUCES BILL STRENGTHENING MEAT AND POULTRY SAFETY RULES

Food-Borne Pathogens Cause 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths in the US each year

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), along with a bipartisan group of Senators, today introduced legislation to strengthen rules against microbial pathogens in meat and poultry. The Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction Act of 2005, known as "Kevin's Law", would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the authority to enforce food safety and sanitation standards that have been under attack in the federal courts. The bill is named after Kevin Kowalcyk of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin who died in 2001 at the age of 2 ½ from E. coli infection. A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Phil English (R-PA). Harkin is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

"USDA needs greater authority to ensure meat and poultry plants are not violating public health standards," Harkin said. "Through litigation, the meat and poultry industry has scaled back USDA's ability to close plants that repeatedly violate standards to protect their consumers. This law ensures USDA can shut down repeat offenders."

In 1996, USDA adopted new rules to help them enforce basic safety and sanitation standards in the production of meat and poultry. These rules, called Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), are critical to ensuring that microbial pathogens are kept out of meat and poultry sold to consumers in restaurants and on grocery store shelves. Unfortunately, the meat and poultry industry has used lawsuits since then to stop the government from enforcing these important food safety standards. The courts struck down USDA's ability to enforce pathogen standards for Salmonella and to require meat grinders to stop using low-quality, potentially contaminated beef trimmings. These lawsuits threaten USDA's ability to shut down a plant that repeatedly violates basic sanitation regulations.

Kevin's Law gives USDA the authority to enforce existing protections against pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli. It requires USDA to set standards for foodborne pathogens based upon the best available science and available technology to reduce contamination. The law also makes clear that USDA also has the authority to enforce basic sanitation requirements in meat and poultry plants.

"Regrettably, we have not had the administration's support on this bill in the past," Harkin said. "I hope that will change and we can strengthen USDA's hand to fight foodborne pathogens in meat and poultry. Passing Kevin's Law would mean USDA can take action against plants that repeatedly violate sanitary standards."

Cosponsors of the bill include Senators Arlen Spector (R-PA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Charles Schumer (D-NY).

http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=239993