Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation Hearing Entitled "Diminished Capacity: Can the FDA Assure the Safety and Security of the Nation's Food..."

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS HEARING ENTITLED "DIMINISHED CAPACITY: CAN THE FDA ASSURE THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THE NATION'S FOOD SUPPLY?"

Mr. Chairman, thank you for conducting this hearing on the threats to the public health posed by contaminated food products. Every American has reason to worry about pathogens in our food supply that sicken up to 73 million and kill about 5,000 of us each year. It is important that we learn how much of this death and illness could have been prevented by diligent and properly funded regulatory agencies, primarily the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

I want to begin by thanking our first panel of witnesses -- courageous and patriotic Americans who have come here at their own expense to recount the personal tragedies that have befallen them and their families. These are not easy matters for them to discuss. Two of our witnesses, Elizabeth Armstrong and Gary Pruden, will speak of the E. coli poisoning that caused grave harm, and, in one case, is still causing grievous harm to their children, all because these kids ate their vegetables. The children who were victims of food contamination -- Isabella, Ashley, and Sean -- are also with us today. Terri Marshall will speak as well of terrible infections that her aging mother-in-law has suffered from Salmonella-contaminated peanut butter. These tragedies represent serious problems in our food supply that must be addressed.

We will also hear today from two of the companies that sold tainted products. And we will hear from two witnesses that give us even more concern, because the source and breadth of the contaminated wheat, rice, and possibly corn products that found its way into pet foods suggests an even more dangerous breakdown in our regulatory system.

These protein products are pervasive. They are used in all manner of human food. The principal seller of the tainted pet food, Menu Foods, tells that only the highest grade of wheat gluten was ordered for their pet products. So these important proteins that are imported by the ton could easily wind up in our pantries, restaurants, or snack food vending machines.

Regardless of whether they are wheat, rice, or corn-based proteins, they share two characteristics. First, they were contaminated deliberately. Second, they came from our trading partners in China.

So far, the evidence suggests that the deliberate contamination was for greed and not as a trial run for terrorist purposes. The chemical melamine, the component that poisoned the pet food, fraudulently elevates the measurement of protein in the gluten thus increasing its market value. While it matters not to the victims whether they are poisoned for profit or politics, we must be particularly concerned that these profiteers have drawn a roadmap to holes in our regulatory scheme.

I recall an episode involving tainted canned mushrooms from China a few years back. At that time, the FDA shut down all imports of mushrooms from China until FDA inspectors went there and approved each and every plant.

Up to yesterday China wouldn't let our inspectors into the contaminated wheat gluten factories - in fact they wouldn't even tell us where the plants were located, much less who they ship to. The response of this Administration was simply to shut off imports only from the trading company that shipped the poisoned product. Chinese wheat gluten continues to pour into this country. Relying on imperfect testing at the ports, the Agency gambles with the health of Americans so as not to disturb the trading profits of the Chinese.

In a couple of weeks we will hold a second day of hearings that will have the FDA account for their imperfect stewardship of public health. I have watched the FDA chase too many imports with too few resources for too many years. Whether the life-threatening product is a counterfeit drug or tainted food, the FDA lacks enough properly trained and motivated personnel to do an increasingly difficult job. Good people in the field continually report how disillusioned they have become with the management of the FDA. Some are resigning; some are being driven out. The FDA field management will be before us in a couple of weeks. They have some serious accounting to do regarding the game of roulette they are playing with the lives of Americans.

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