Food Safety System Reform
Floor Speech
FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM REFORM -- (Senate - July 09, 2009)
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I am here to talk briefly today about food safety, something about which I care deeply. As you probably know, the last few food epidemics, from the jalapeno peppers to peanut butter, would not have been solved except for the hard work of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health, which is a model for how we can solve these epidemics. Thirteen people died with the last peanut butter one. It was only when someone died and was sick in Minnesota that it got solved.
Clearly, while we are proud of the work we do, we have to bring out this model nationally. I am proud to be doing a bill with Senator Chambliss to try to bring out this model for the rest of the country.
I do note today that the Washington Post has a strong editorial recommending we do something to improve the food safety of this Nation. I think it is worth reading that editorial. They are talking about the need to get something done. Just this week, the White House came out with its food safety recommendations which include, as I said, building a new national trace-back and response system, including clear industry guidance, a new unified incidence command system, and improved use of technology to deliver individual food safety alerts to consumers. We can truly do better.
There is also a bill--the bill Senator Chambliss and I have sponsored focuses on the end of this problem when a foodborne illness is out there--there is also a bill to prevent it in the first place, a bipartisan bill in the Senate. Senator Dick Durbin is heading up that bill, along with Judd Gregg, Ted Kennedy, Richard Burr, Chris Dodd, and Lamar Alexander, and Senator Chambliss and I are also sponsors of that legislation. The idea of that legislation is to beef up the FDA to improve our capacity to prevent food safety problems.
As we all know, the tragedy that happened in Georgia where the information did not get to the right people, where inspectors had come in or not enough inspections had come in--the information did not get up the food chain, so to say. No one knew what was going on, that there were violations at this plant, and 13 people died. That has to change.
We also have to improve our capacity to detect and respond with inspections, surveillance, and traceability. We also have in this bill ways to enhance U.S. food defense capabilities and to increase FDA resources. We have seen just recently the problem with the refrigerator cookie dough manufactured by Nestle. So we know this problem has not ended and it continues.
I am urging the Senate to take action, first of all, on the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, the bipartisan bill, to give the FDA more tools to do what it does. We have already seen the good work the Agriculture Department does with certain fields, and we need to build on this work and make sure we are able to catch these things before they get out into the food stream and the people of our country. Secondly, when it does happen, when salmonella or something does get out there, we have to respond quickly.
I also urge the Senate, as part of these FDA measures, to pass the Food Safety Rapid Response Act, a bill I have with Senator Chambliss. This is a smart bill. It uses these models of epidemiology tools that should be used all over the country.
It should not have to be the case that people have to get sick in Minnesota before we solve this problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control, foodborne disease causes about 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States every year.
We should not wait. We should be acting on these two bills. We have a full agenda, but we have before us two bills that have bipartisan support. We have not heard people attacking them. They are the way to go. We have food industry people involved in both of these bills who also want to get them passed. Obviously, they do not want to keep losing profits because of food scares across this country. Let's get these bills done and improve our food safety system in the United States of America.
I yield the floor.
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