National Chicken Council Annual Meeting Release No. 0404.99 Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman National Chicken Council Annual Meeting Washington, DC October 7, 1999 "Thank you very much, Jim Perdue, for those kind words. It's a pleasure to join you for your annual meeting. And I want to salute all of you for your work to make chicken the most popular meat on the market. "Every day, chicken becomes more and more of a staple of the American diet. You have been innovative and resourceful, responding effectively to shifting consumer demand and delivering new products at affordable prices. Chicken consumption has soared, with the average American eating well over twice as much as in 1960. We expect the 1999 increase in per capita consumption to be the largest in more than half a century. As people continue to be conscious of diet and nutrition, as they continue to seek good protein sources for their dollar, they are sure to continue buying and eating chicken products. "In this year of struggle for American agriculture, the situation is generally a little more bullish for the chicken industry, which has managed to avoid the battering that hog producers and most row crop producers have endured. "On the trade front, you deserve kudos for successfully penetrating global markets over the last decade. In 1990, exports accounted for only 5 percent of broiler production. Since then, that number has jumped to 15 to 17 percent. In the last few years, however, chicken has naturally taken a hit from the economic meltdown in its number one export market, Russia. I won't go into too much detail here, because Patrick Steele has already given you a strong summary of the important issues. But the Russia situation is so stark that it bears repeating. "While sales to key markets like Japan, Mexico and Hong Kong have held steady, broiler exports to Russia dropped more than a third from 1997 to 1998. And it's gotten worst this year. During the first half of 1998, Russia bought over a billion pounds of ready-to-cook American broilers. "During the same period this year, sales to Russia totaled barely 200 million pounds more than a fivefold decrease. "We continue to do everything we can to empower the Russian people, humanitarian food aid being one of our more prominent tools, and we are currently considering another food aid request from Russia. The broiler industry has certainly done its part as well. Even as we continue to cultivate other markets, we must continue to stick by Russia. Each firm that does so will reap the benefits of an eventual Russian recovery. And, of course, we will fight in the upcoming WTO Round to open markets for chicken and other agricultural commodities. "I want to talk a bit about food safety issues, because I think they represent the very best of the partnership we have built together. When we issued the final HACCP and Pathogen Reduction rule just over three years ago, there were a lot of naysayers who doubted that industry and government could work together to make it happen. "After we jumped the first hurdle and had success with implementation in the large plants, then they said it couldn't be done in the small plants. I'm here today to tell you that not only can it be done, it is being done. I'm proud to announce today that small plants of 10 to 499 employees are reporting as much as a 50 percent decline in the incidence of salmonella on meat and poultry products since HACCP implementation. Most impressive of all, these small-plant numbers compare very favorably with the results at large plants, where HACCP has been in effect for a year longer. "Before HACCP, 20 percent of young chicken carcasses tested positive for salmonella. After only six months under HACCP implementation in small plants, that number was down to 13.9 percent, a decline of almost a third. It's the same with ground beef, where salmonella was cut by more than half in small plants. Of course, this is only interim six-month data. But I think we can say with confidence that HACCP, so far, has been a success. The greatest challenge is still to come, with the very small plants prepared to come on line in January. But I'm confident that, together, we will be successful there as well. "I have a second announcement that will help promote food safety and institutionalize HACCP. USDA has awarded 73 grants worth $9.4 million to several colleges and universities, for food safety research and education. This money will support everything from a Purdue University food safety education program for high-risk audiences...to a research effort at the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station to improve critical control point identification and validation during poultry production and processing. "On top of those grants, we're also investing about $24,000 each in nine minority-serving colleges and universities, so that they can provide technical assistance to very small plants as they prepare to adopt HACCP. "I know that the inspector issue is one that has been of concern to all of you. While Congress did earmark money in our food safety budget for more inspectors, they did not provide the additional resources we need to follow through with our plans to elevate some of our inspectors to the position of Consumer Safety Officers. These better-trained, higher-paid employees would have greater responsibilities and the scientific expertise to review complex industry HACCP systems. "This is a whole lot more than an administrative personnel move. Consumer Safety Officers are an integral part of our commitment to improving inspection under the HACCP and Pathogen Reduction system. "We will continue to move forward with our reform efforts, including our inspection pilots that are just getting underway. But this issue of upgrading our inspector positions is critical to our long-term food safety success. "Of course, there's more to our food safety strategy than HACCP. As we've adopted more of a farm-to-table approach, we've been particularly aggressive about consumer outreach. We have a new system called FoodNet, which has helped build a network for foodborne illness reporting. And a new computer network called PulseNet has enabled the Centers for Disease Control to fingerprint pathogens and find the patterns of related illness across the country, thus creating an improved rapid response capability. "I can't emphasize enough that this Administration regards food safety as a collaborative public-private effort. Government alone can only do so much. The successes of the last few years have a lot to do with industry's cooperation, and its understanding that food safety is more than a public health concern; it's simply good business. I understand that later today you will announce two new efforts that will further enhance food safety. One involves the testing of new interventions in production and processing, with nearly 90 percent of the industry -- a staggering number -- agreeing to participate. Second, industry is pledging continued cooperation with ongoing USDA research on salmonella and campylobacter in raw chickens. "I commend you for these efforts. The stronger our partnership, the better we are able to improve on what is already the safest food supply in the world. I look forward to working with you on food safety and other issues, to position chicken producers and processors for greater competitiveness and prosperity in the 21st century. Thank you very much. # # #