Durbin, DeLauro: Chinese Government Agrees to Toughen Food Safety Standards for Imports

Letter

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today met with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach and Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong of the People's Republic of China to discuss the recent food safety problems including several contaminated shipments of food products imported from China.

During the meeting, Durbin and DeLauro secured a commitment from the Chinese government and the FDA that they would work towards a mutual agreement to improve inspections and overall safety of food products and drugs traded between the U.S. and China. That agreement would likely take the form of a memorandum of understanding between the two governments (see letter below).

"This proposed agreement between the FDA and the Chinese government is a significant breakthrough in terms of food safety - and American consumers stand to be the big winners," said Durbin. "China and the FDA currently do not have a binding agreement on food and drugs, there is no equivalency of safety regulations between the two systems, and there are no mechanisms in place to inspect food production facilities, secure visas for investigations, or otherwise facilitate relations when problems arise. A memo of understanding will help address those problems."

"Significant work remains to address the deceptive labeling, unsanitary conditions, and the intentional contamination of food products that have become commonplace in China. While equivalency standards for food safety between the U.S. and China should be the ultimate goal, an agreement between the FDA and the Chinese government that would allow FDA inspectors to enter their country to investigate problems as they arise would provide some immediate assistance. I would urge the FDA to insist on strong terms that would prevent any delays in their investigations when a crisis occurs," said DeLauro. "The problems derived from this pet food recall have enlightened us to the gaps in our food safety system and a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and China would represent a positive step forward toward improving the safety of imported foods."

During the meeting, Durbin and DeLauro also learned new information regarding a second importer of rice protein concentrate had received shipments of contaminated product from China. According to Commissioner von Eschenbach, Cereal Byproducts located in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, had imported contaminated rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian in China, and issed a recall on May 4, 2007 of all products it distributed. The Food and Drug Administration is currently working with the company to track down all shipments of the product.

In a previous meeting with the Chinese Ambassador last month, Durbin and DeLauro were told that imported Chinese food products which were later found to be contaminated had been labeled as industrial grade and not for animal or human consumption. Today it was disclosed that that the Chinese government has detained the shippers of the tainted wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate and that they acknowledge that the products were improperly labeled.

Durbin and DeLauro have been actively engaged on food safety issues for over a decade. This Congress they introduced legislation that calls for the development of a single food safety agency and the implementation of a food safety program to standardize American food safety activities (The Safe Food Act - S. 654 and H.R. 1148 in the Senate and House respectively). Currently, there are at least 12 different federal agencies and 35 different laws governing food safety. With overlapping jurisdictions, federal agencies often lack accountability on food safety-related issues.

Text of letter attached and below:

May 9, 2007

The Honorable Andrew von Eschenbach
Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857

Dear Dr. von Eschenbach:

Thank you for attending today's meeting with the People's Republic of China's Ambassador to the United States Zhou Wenzhong to discuss how to improve the food safety relationship between the United States and China. Thank you also for providing us with the latest developments on the ongoing investigation into the recall of pet and human food products contaminated with melamine.

This recall has illustrated many significant inadequacies in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ability to protect consumers and our food supply from hazardous products that originate overseas. Food imports now account for approximately 13 percent of the average American diet, including significant shares of fruits, juices, meat, and fish and shellfish.

While FDA budgets have not kept pace with the increasing volume of agricultural imports that enter the United States, we believe that existing tools at FDA's disposal would allow the agency to pursue actions that would improve the safety and soundness of food imports entering the United States.

Specifically, we encourage you to make it a priority to enter into cooperative agreements with our trading partners, including letters of intent and comprehensive Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). It is our hope that these agreements will facilitate the establishment of standards and quality controls for our trading partners, as well as promote dialogue and technical assistance. Ultimately, these cooperative agreements will provide U.S. inspectors with easier access to foreign facilities, and expedite information sharing and cooperation during product recalls.

Currently, the FDA lacks these types of agreements with some of our largest volume trading partners. For example, only two MOUs involving China are in effect, and those concern standards for ceramic ware imported from China. Given that the United States imports approximately $2.2 billion of agricultural products from China annually and considering that manufacturers in China recently have been implicated in several serious contaminations of food and drug products, an MOU between the United States and China should be made a top priority. We are alarmed by recent media accounts that the highly toxic substance diethylene glycol has been marketed by Chinese firms as glycerine, which has resulted in mass poisonings in various parts of the world.

Beyond MOUs, the recent pet food contamination has revealed significant gaps in the FDA's statutory authorities to protect our food supply from potentially hazardous imports. We request that, within 20 days of receiving this correspondence, the agency create a list of gaps in FDA's current authorities that hinder it from adequately regulating imports.

Thank you very much for your prompt response to these questions.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
U.S. Senator
Assistant Majority Leader

Rosa L. DeLauro
Chairwoman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

Source