CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript

CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript

DOBBS: Federal health officials tonight say that lettuce is the most likely source of the outbreak of E. coli that made more than 60 people ill and shut down Taco Bells all over the country. The outbreak and several others in recent months have brought calls for tougher regulation of the nation's food supply.

Joining me now is Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. She is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee and co- chair of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus.

Congresswoman, good to have you here.

REP. ROSA DELAURO (D), CONNECTICUT: It's wonderful to be with you, Lou.

DOBBS: Let's start with what in the world is going on. I mean, we're talking about each year, 75 million Americans...

DELAURO: Right.

DOBBS: ... getting sick because of unsafe food. As many as 5,000 of those people die while more than 300,000 are hospitalized.

DELAURO: That's right.

DOBBS: I mean, this is outrageous. What is going on, in your -- because you've been working on this issue for some time. What is going on?

DELAURO: Well, you stated it well. That's -- I mean, those are the facts and there's a very serious, serious problem here and it's, in my view, a collapse of the food safety system.

Watch -- look what happened with the Taco Bell effort. The things are so bad that you've got an industry that is asking for government regulation. I mean, that is unprecedented. And what we need to do and what I want to do in being able to take the chairmanship of this subcommittee in January...

DOBBS: Right.

DELAURO: ... is to have a hearing and to focus in on food safety. Let's ask the question has self-regulation gone too far? Are there enough inspectors? Resources? Are there enough resources? Are there management shortfalls? We have to examine this at the federal, state, and the local level.

And what we need to do is we need to -- what I want to do is to bring back and restore the oversight capacity of the federal agencies that deal with food safety.

DOBBS: Right.

DELAURO: We are charged with protecting public health, and today, we are not doing the job that we have been charged to do.

DOBBS: The Food and Drug Administration, as you well know, has about 2,000 inspectors to look at about 80 percent of our total food supply in this country.

DELAURO: That's right.

DOBBS: We continue to import more and more and more of our food, which is not being inspected. What are we going to be able to do in the short term? Because this is becoming -- we're starting to look like a third-world nation in my opinion.

DELAURO: Well, we've got to identify whether the problem is resources or management and some of the things that -- you know, that I have laid out. You're right. Only about one percent of imported food is inspected today.

And the fact is, is that legislation that I have introduced, that Senator Durbin has introduced, says let's look at a single food safety agency. Lou, you have 12 different agencies that are looking at food safety. Let me just give you this example, because of the Taco Bell.

DOBBS: Let me just say one thing.

DELAURO: Sure.

DOBBS: You're talking about the Safe Food Act which you introduced a year-and-a-half ago.

DELAURO: That's right. That's right. And we haven't been able to, you know, raise the support level. I'm hoping that these kinds of outbreaks will do that. But take a look. It's now maybe lettuce or cheese that's caused the Taco Bell problem. Lettuce is regulated by FDA, and cheese by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is crazy.

DOBBS: Yes.

DELAURO: Let's look at regularized inspections. Let's look at tracing back the...

DOBBS: You mean actually have the United States government actually do something in the national interests and for the common good? All right. Congresswoman, as always, good to talk with you.

DELAURO: Good to talk to you.

DOBBS: Thank you. We look forward to your hearings come January, and congratulations on your appointment.

DOBBS: Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Happy holidays.

DELAURO: Happy holidays to you, and merry Christmas.

DOBBS: Thank you.

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