STATEMENT
OF
THE HONORABLE JOHN D. DINGELL
THE IMPORTED FOOD SAFETY ACT OF 1998

June 17, 1998

Food is life. But for 9,100 Americans each year, food is death.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has estimated that as many as 81 million cases of food borne illness occur each year. But only when consumers get sick or die, does the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) try to determine whether the food supply may have contained pathogenic contaminants. The outrageous and wholly intolerable conclusion one must draw is that American consumers are being used as guinea pigs.

Imports now account for 38% of all the fruit and 12% of all the vegetables Americans consume each year. The volume of food imported into the U.S. has almost doubled over the last 5 years, yet the frequency of FDA inspections has declined sharply during the same period of time. FDA acknowledges that it is "in danger of being overwhelmed by the volume of products reaching U.S. ports."

Even if FDA could perform more inspections, FDA does not have the tests it needs to detect E coli, salmonella and other pathogens in imported fruits and vegetables. In addition, all of the microbiological samples that FDA collected and tested in fiscal year 1997 were in response to food borne illness. None were for preventive detection.

GAO has studied this situation and has concluded that the Federal Government cannot ensure that imported foods are safe. In response to this crisis, the President has said FDA needs increased resources, more authority, and improved research and technology.

The Imported Food Safety Act of 1998 addresses each of these points. The legislation provides additional resources in the form of a modest user fee on imported foods, and a "Manhattan Project" to develop "real time" tests that yield results within 60 minutes to detect E coli, salmonella, and other microbial and pesticide contaminants in food. Finally, the legislation gives FDA authority, comparable to that of the U.S. Department of Agriculture with respect to imported poultry and meat, to stop unsafe food at the border and to assure that its ultimate disposition is not America's dinner table.

American consumers deserve better and, as soon as they learn how bad the situation really is, I am confident they will demand better.

I would also note that the current Majority in Congress is clearly not prepared to appropriate funds needed to protect Americans from unsafe food. Funds for the President's food safety initiative were recently zeroed out by a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, and in the House, only a token amount was appropriated for the food safety initiative. A user fee on imported food, like the user fee in the Imported Food Safety Act, would ensure that FDA has much needed resources to protect American consumers from unsafe imported food.