Public Voice Annual Food Policy Conference Release No. 0128.98 Remarks of Secretary Dan Glickman Public Voice Annual Food Policy Conference Washington, D.C. -- March 23, 1998 Thank you, John [Cady, President, National Food Processors Association]. You know, I was just here at the National Press Club last Thursday talking about food safety. I was announcing what we fondly refer to at USDA as chick spray.' This is a new anti-salmonella spray -- invented by USDA researchers -- that has proven up to 99.9% effective in eliminating salmonella in poultry on the farm. This is a major scientific breakthrough in the fight against foodborne illness, and we are now looking into its potential applications for hogs and cattle. Technology is the next great food safety frontier. But we would not be talking about a new frontier, if it weren't for the efforts of people like all of you and organizations like Public Voice that have been so active in pushing our nation to take its food safety efforts to a whole new level. You know, we hear a lot these days from folks who seem to think that things would be better if government just got out of their way. But ask those same folks: who should ensure the safety of the airplanes they fly in? Who should make sure the banks that hold their life savings remain solvent? Who should ensure national security? You get one answer -- government. And, people don't just want government, they want a strong government in these areas. The same is true for food safety. People look to government to protect them in ways they cannot protect themselves. This Administration takes food safety very personally. President Clinton took office the same month the Pacific Northwest E. coli outbreak sickened hundreds and killed four young children. Recently, I was with the families of those victims for a memorial service marking the 5th anniversary of that tragedy. They asked me to talk about resolve. I told them I had nothing to teach them on that topic. Without question, an active, vocal, engaged consumer community has been the secret of this Administration's success in launching a food safety revolution. I'm proud of the role that USDA has been able to play in this effort. Just a few years ago, USDA's food safety work was done by the same agency that's responsible for marketing and promoting U.S. agriculture. Now, we have a separate, independent Food Safety and Inspection Service, staffed with some of the top public health scientists in the world. Just a few years ago, it was considered a highly controversial radical step when we banned the sale of hamburger contaminated with deadly E. coli. Today, that decision is a no-brainer. It's kept millions of pounds of unsafe food away from consumers. And, just this year we started new science-based meat and poultry inspections in this country. For the first time, we require tests for hidden pathogens in our food, like E. coli and salmonella. For the first time, we require plants not just to catch contamination, but to close the safety gaps that invite it. For the first time, the focus is on prevention, and America's public policy makes it crystal clear that industry is responsible for producing safe food. It is not just up to inspectors to catch contamination. It is not just up to consumers to cook their meat thoroughly and wash their fruits and vegetables well. Those roles are still critically important, but industry, also, is responsible for producing safe food. This year, under our new inspection system, so far USDA has witheld its mark of inspection in 30 plants. Sometimes this meant a whole plant was shut down, other times just a line. But this number is significantly higher than this time last year. There's a different story about each plant that USDA's shut down: Some didn't do their required E. coli tests. Others did not have clean facilities at the start of the day (under the old system, inspectors would walk around and tell folks at the plant what they had to clean up; under the new system, plants are responsible for having clean facilities). In other instances, there were clear signs that no matter how good a plant's new safety plan looked on paper, it wasn't being put into practice. The circumstances were different at each plant, but the fundamental reason they were shut down was the same: these plants did not take their new responsibilities seriously, and for that offense, USDA's actions to date make it clear that plants will face severe consequences. This is a major cultural change -- for the industry and for USDA. Back when Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle,' then Agriculture Secretary James Wilson wrote to the Postmaster General saying this book was the most scurrilous slander he'd ever read, and could the Postmaster please instruct his delivery people to yank the book from folks' mailboxes and prevent its distribution. Today, people walk up to me on the street and ask, how do I cook a hamburger right?' ... Needless to say, we have come a long way. Now, I know it's traditional for politicians to try and take all the credit for this sort of progress, but I've got to give it back to all of you. This Administration is 100% committed to breaking new ground on food safety, but the reason we've been able to is because consumers demanded it. They want their government on their side -- protecting them. They've also made it crystal clear to industry that safe food sells, And, I give industry a lot of credit for recognizing that and stepping up to the plate. But I come here today not just to thank you, or to gloat about what this Administration has done. I'm here today because I need your help in pressing forward on a number of fronts: I want to commend Public Voice for being so active in the Partnership for Food Safety Education -- which is our public/private effort to arm consumers with basic food safety knowledge that can protect them -- simple steps like wash your hands and keep foods at proper temperatures. Without question consumers hunger for this information: We've had record numbers of phone calls to USDA's meat and poultry safety hotline, with questions like: how can I safely thaw my turkey; what's the best way to clean a cutting board. We also know that meat thermometers had record sales this past Thanksgiving. Consumers are interested. Unfortunately, one recent study showed that even among highly educated Americans, most do not practice basic safe-food handling in the home. The researchers saw folks making valiant attempts, and getting a few things right, but basically confused about the big picture. That tells me we need to do a better job of getting consumers complete information, and delivering it in an easy-to-understand way that changes people's in-kitchen actions. In a perfect world, consumers would not have to be the last line of defense in preventing foodborne illness. But we have not yet achieved that perfect world, and we need to help consumers understand their important role in food safety, and the basic, simple steps they can take to protect themselves and their families. I would also like your help with the Food Code. This is our best scientists' recommendations for food safety practices at the retail stage -- restaurants, grocery stores, cafeterias, that sort of thing. There are more than 1 million retail food outlets in this country -- all primarily overseen by state and local food safety entities. The more of these folks who adopt the code, the closer we come to ensuring a high standard of food safety across the country. And, when you consider that 40% of the American food dollar today is spent outside of the home, paying others to prepare our food, it's clear how critical the food code is to preventing foodborne illness. ... So is government's ability to quickly and firmly respond to unsafe practices in the industry. I'm curious, how many folks here this morning think that I, or a public health expert at USDA, or anyone in government for that matter, can order a recall of unsafe food? How many of you think that your government has the power to step in and order unsafe food off of store shelves? ... Well, you're wrong. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. This is a power most government regulatory agencies have. After all, if I sold an unsafe car or toy or most any other product, government could order a recall, and even fine me for negligence. But not when it comes to unsafe food. This is way out of step with our nation's strong consumer protection laws. It's also dangerously behind the times because the manner in which we process and distribute food in this country has changed dramatically in recent years. Take hamburger. The big processing plants these days can produce upwards of a million pounds of product in one day, and ship it virtually overnight across the country. As the laws stands today, there is no guarantee that should that product prove a risk to the public, every corner store, every supermarket chain, every distributor pulls that food back and quickly. As the law stands today, we don't even have mandatory notification. Days can go by before bad actors in the industry even inform USDA that the public may be at risk. This is a terrible position to be in during an outbreak -- when every hour that goes by without action, someone could get sick or worse. As the law stands today, USDA cannot fine a company for lax safety standards. We can fine you for all kinds of other things: sell a cat without a license, abuse a circus elephant, sell a potato that's too small -- fine, fine, fine. Yet if you produce unsafe food, the only one of these actions that puts people's lives at risk, there is no financial penalty. I don't like the way the law stands today. Now, I can't tell you what to do about that. But I will say that there's a bill, the Food Safety Enforcement Enhancement Act, which I think is worthy of your attention. It provides for mandatory notification, fines for putting people's health at risk, and mandatory recall -- should a voluntary recall fail. USDA needs these powers. And, I am skeptical we will get them until consumers stand up and demand them. I also want to commend this gathering for including in your discussion of national food policy, national anti-hunger policy. I'm glad to see on one of your panels Joel Berg, from USDA's Food and Consumer Service. Joel's going to talk your ear off about gleaning and food recovery later on in the program. This is one of the oldest forms of community service known to humankind. In the Old Testament, the Bible says when you gather up your crop, glean not the corners of your fields; leave them to the poor and the stranger. Whether it's crops left in a field, day-old bread at a bakery, an extra pan of lasagna from a restaurant, dented cans or produce at grocery stores --any food that's hard to sell, but good to eat -- gleaning is about getting that unsold, excess food to folks who need it a whole lot more than a dumpster does. This is a personal priority of mine. We live in the most agriculturally abundant nation on earth. There is simply no excuse for hunger in this country, especially when we let one third -- one third -- of our food supply go to waste every year. President Clinton's balanced budget includes $20 million to assist grass-roots food recovery efforts across the country. I consider that an important part of a strong national food policy. Well-funded federal programs must always be the bedrock of America's anti-hunger effort -- school lunches and breakfasts, the Women, Infants and Children program, and food stamps -- the last remaining welfare entitlement. These are our major weapons in America's war on hunger. But we know that government alone cannot end hunger in America. We need to also encourage community-based efforts. You know, every year, USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion releases a report called expenditures on children by families.' This is the federal benchmark by which most child support and foster care payments are set, and it gives us some news that is probably all too familiar to today's parents: The cost of raising children is on the rise. This latest report shows that a child born in 1997 will cost the average middle-income family more than $153,000 by the time they reach age 17. That doesn't include an Ivy League tuition. That doesn't include the medical costs of kids making their entrance into the world. We're talking primarily about child care, shelter and food. And, I want to talk to you briefly about children and food and a very important decision that may be made as early as this week here in Washington. Tomorrow in Congress, the House and the Senate will try and work out the final version of agricultural research legislation. It deals with important farm issues -- crop insurance, research, aid to rural communities. All of these items are priorities for this Administration, and we want to see them well-funded. But we need to acknowledge that these efforts are being paid for by savings in the Food Stamp Program -- not benefits, but the money the states use to actually run the programs. President Clinton wants to make sure that these savings are primarily used to feed hungry people -- specifically, by restoring food stamp benefits for legal immigrant families, elderly and those with disabilities. These benefits were stripped away as part of welfare reform, and this Administration wants them restored. We must not forget that if we gaze back up our own family trees, at some point our ancestors came to this nation seeking a better life, and America opened its arms and made a promise: if you work hard and play by the rules, you can have a good life here. We must keep that promise today. F. Scott Fitzgerald once defined America as a willingness of the heart.' I think this issue is a test of America's heart. We need to make sure that most of these food stamp savings go toward restoring benefits for legal immigrants. To turn our backs on those who are hungry and have come to this country by legal means would be to turn our backs on the goal of ending hunger here in America. That is a path that goes against the very idea of America, and this Administration will resist it at every step. I know this is an issue that's not on your agenda today. But I hope and believe it's one that many of you care about. I want to thank all of you and this wonderful organization for being such a strong voice for America's consumers. You're making sure the public voice is heard loud and clear in our nation's capital. Thank you for inviting me here today, and thank you for the work you do every day for our nation. # NOTE: USDA news releases and media advisories are available on the Internet. Access the USDA Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.usda.gov