Washington, D.C. – Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today delivered a speech before the Consumer Federation of America’s 25th Annual National Food Policy Conference 2002 laying out a bold food safety agenda and challenging consumer advocates to help enact needed reforms.

"As bad as you may believe FDA controls are at the border, the reality is they are much worse. As a result, imported food that is intentionally or unintentionally adulterated is much more likely to end up on America’s dinner table than it is to be detected and held at the border," Dingell said.

Dingell went on to note that there are major deficiencies in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) existing food safety powers, policies and practices. In particular, having too few inspectors leaves the nation’s food supply vulnerable to intentional adulteration, and FDA’s own practices and lack of authority make matters worse.

In each of the past two congresses, most of the Democratic members on the Committee on Energy and Commerce joined with Dingell in sponsoring legislation aimed at improving the safety of imported food that Americans eat. Unfortunately, a Republican-controlled House of Representatives took no action until the threat of terrorism against the nation became an alarming reality. From that came the bioterrorism bills that passed both the House and the Senate.

The bioterrorism legislation is clearly one of the most important food safety bills to be considered by the Congress in years. It has new money and much needed new authorities for FDA to improve its regulation of imported food. And it will, for the first time, give FDA the needed authority to act independently at the border.

"We must not let the American people, the Congress, or the Administration forget how vulnerable our food supply is," Dingell said. "And, we must not wait for the unthinkable to happen again before we do what is needed to protect the safety of our food, both imported and domestic."

Dingell listed several goals for the ongoing bioterrorism House-Senate conference, while expressing concern about the delay in concluding the conference. These goals range from the common-sense idea of having FDA inspectors present when food enters the country to the provision of basic enforcement authorities. Longer range goals for food safety reform include user fees, mandatory recall authority, country of origin labeling, and barring food imports from countries lacking adequate food safety protections.

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