MODERATOR: "Good morning from Washington. I'm Larry Quinn speaking to you from the Broadcast Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Welcome to today's news conference on food safety issues with Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.

"The Secretary is joined by acting Under Secretary of Food Safety Dr. Merle Pierson and acting administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service Dr. Barbara Masters.

"A note to reporters, if you want to ask a question during our question and answer period today I remind you that you simply press "1" on your telephone touchpad, and that alerts us that you wish you ask a question.

"Now it is my pleasure to introduce Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. Good morning, Mr. Secretary."

SEC. JOHANNS: "Good morning, Larry. Thank you very much for that introduction. Let me also start out today and say thank you to Merle Pierson, acting Under Secretary for Food Safety; and Barb Masters the acting administrator for Food Safety and Inspection Service-- for being here today. I appreciate it immensely. They do good work. They work hard on food safety and food security. So I'm glad they're a part of the program today.

"We are here today to update you on many of the important things that we are doing to protect our food and our agriculture system against intentional and unintentional threats. And I would like to begin with an announcement.

"As you know, last November USDA confirmed the first appearance of soybean rust in the United States, and other discoveries followed that. Since then USDA has been working with state and local governments to help farmers get up-to-date information and solutions to the soybean rust issue. Today I'm pleased to announce that as a part of the soybean rust surveillance and monitoring network USDA and its partners will begin monitoring sentinel soybean plots in 26 major soybean-producing states.

"Data that is gathered from these plots will then be plugged into the national surveillance program which tracks detections of the disease in the United States. This information will support the proper response and the management of soybean rust at the national level.

"We are also working to make sure that producers have quick and easy access to information about soybean rust. Last month I did announce that USDA had launched a comprehensive soybean rust website. It's a great site. Let me give people that site. It's http://www.usda.gov/soybeanrust. That website includes an interactive soybean rust tracking map. In the next few weeks we will make available a new e-mail update system that is devoted to soybean rust. Those who sign up will receive e-mail updates whenever there's a change on the tracking map, as well as other timely information about soybean rust.

"We also know that there is concern among insured producers about complying with insurance requirements relating to soybean rust. So we are reaching out to those producers to let them know that they should seek and follow the recommendations of local agriculture experts to control soybean rust and -- this is important -- document the advice they receive and the action they take to combat the disease.

"Producers should also talk to their crop insurance agent to make sure that they comply with the specific terms of their crop insurance policy. These very important steps are a vital part of our system of plant and animal health protection and the protection of our entire food system.

"Food safety, food security are related, but they're not identical issues. USDA has been protecting the public from unintentional threats to the food supply for much of its existence. And it remains as vital a part of our mission today as it has always been.

"Food security however is a newer part of our role in protecting the public health. Protecting our food supply against a thinking enemy is an issue that has become far more prominent since the attacks of September 11th. But food safety and food security are related because a failure in either area means harm, not just to American agriculture but to the consumers whose health and safety depend upon our vigilance.

"Americans have confidence in their food supply, and they should have confidence. Our job is to make sure that trust continues to be well placed. Today we have further evidence that what we and our partners are doing is increasing safety of our food supply. In conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with the Food and Drug Administration, I'm pleased to announce several findings from a new report on food-borne illness, data from 2004.

"The full and comprehensive report will be released at noon during a media briefing by the CDC. I can share with you now one important and very positive aspect of the report. We have achieved one of the national health goals for 2010, six years ahead of schedule. In 2004 cases of E-Coli 0157 infections, one of the most severe food-borne diseases, were below the national 2010 health goal. As a matter of fact, E-Coli infections have decreased 42 percent since 1996 with the overwhelming majority of that decline coming since 2002.

"So it's a good time for me to say, many thanks to the men and women of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service who have been working with the industry to tighten E-Coli control measures in ground beef production.

"Of course, we could not have had this kind of success without tremendous cooperation from the beef industry, and we appreciate their help immensely.

"There are other statistics that we will share with you a little later on, but like I said this E-Coli number is just very, very good news.

"There is more work to do. President Bush himself has emphasized the vital importance of food safety and food and ag security in the 2006 budget proposal. That proposal includes nearly $600 million for the Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative, an increase of $144 million over 2005.

"Mr. President, we appreciate your leadership in this very, very important area. The Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative is a comprehensive approach to food safety and the protection of our food supply including areas such as enhanced monitoring and surveillance, additional research in vaccines, tracking of disease agents, expanded diagnostic capabilities, and the completion of the National Centers for Animal Health in Ames, Iowa.

"USDA is committed to protecting the food supply against all threats, both accidental and intentional. And that's why I'm pleased to make one more announcement today. Today USDA is releasing four model food security plans. These plans provide guidance to plants and importers about how to develop their own security measures to deter intentional contamination of our food supply. The four model food security plans are tailored to major components of the American food supply system including meat and poultry slaughter and processing facilities, egg processing plants, and import facilities.

"The development of these plans was made possible by the application of valuable information collected through a series of vulnerability assessments for selected domestic and imported food products.

"To assist the industry in adopting and adapting the model plans, USDA will reach out to all of the target establishments with an emphasis on smaller companies that might not have the resources to develop their own independent security plans. We will conduct five training workshops across the nation in May and June, and two of these sessions will be web cast. While these guidelines are voluntary, we strongly urge all establishments operating under federal and state inspection programs to incorporate these security procedures.

"Food security is a shared responsibility, and fortunately the USDA has many partners in this effort. I do appreciate the dedication of our partners from producers to our industry partners and government partners who are so committed to protecting our food supply. While we are making tremendous progress in both food safety and food security, I can assure you USDA will not sit back and assume that the bases are covered. We remain committed to taking every prudent step to ensure that we give Americans every reason to continue trusting with full confidence our food supply.

"So to all of you, thank you. I will now be happy to answer questions as will the team that is with me."

MODERATOR: "We'll begin our questions from reporters now with one more reminder that if you wish to ask a question, please press "1" on your telephone touchpad so that we'll know that you want to ask a question. And our first question today comes from Josh St. Peters of Brownville Network in Jefferson City, Missouri. Josh, go ahead, please."

REPORTER: "Good morning, and thank you. Mr. Secretary, I'm curious. In a two part question here on those food security plans, first of all who specifically within the USDA will administer these plans? And what are the significant upgrades or the latest changes made in these plans that you think will make them more effective?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "Let me invite Merle to offer a few thoughts. Like I said, good question."

SEC. PIERSON: "Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. The food security plans are specifically designed for meat and poultry slaughter facilities, meat and poultry processing plants, egg processing plants and our import inspection facilities. The plans are based upon the vulnerability assessments as well as careful analysis by our experts within USDA, FSIS. And I might say that we are conducting again a series of training workshops for the small and very small operations. And this by the way is a voluntary system for implementing these plans."

MODERATOR: "Our next question will come from Mike McGinnis from DTN. And standing by should be Matt Kay.

"Mike, go ahead."

REPORTER: "Yes, thank you. Mr. Secretary, I guess my question is about soybean rust. And my question is about funding for research. I understand from some university researchers that the USDA is providing inadequate funding for rust research if it does create some sort of a crisis or an outbreak here in the U.S. this year."

SEC. JOHANNS: "Actually when I look at what the USDA has done here, I could not be more impressed. And I can say that because a large part of the work was done before I arrived within the last few months. What do I mean by that? Before soybean rust was even discovered in the United States, the USDA was already doing work in this area and involved in planning for it-- put together a strategic plan to deal with it, recognizing that the day was probably going to arrive when soybean rust was found. And lo and behold, that day did arrive last fall.

"They've been involved in research. There's research going on around the country. So I guess what I would offer is, from what I see from my vantage point being kind of the new kid on the block, the USDA really did take a leadership role in this area."

MODERATOR: "Our next question comes from Matt Kay of Burns Bureau. And standing by should be Ron Hayes. Matt?"

REPORTER: "Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for taking my question. Two of the parts here-- one, Senator Harkin raised with you this week the question of funding for the Ames National Animal Disease Lab in Ames, Iowa, and indicated the Administration had requested about $59 million to complete the project. He suggested that wasn't enough. Do you have any handle now as to what is the adequate funding level to complete this important laboratory?

"And secondly, on the budget issue there was an impression on the part of some in the media and perhaps some lawmakers that the Administration this week was backing away from a deficit reduction in agriculture because of your expressed desire to work with Congress on other cost-saving recommendations, saying that further reductions in payment limits were sensitive. Is the Administration backing away from farm program cuts?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "Let me start with your second question, and then I'll get to the Ames issue. The answer to that question is, no, not at all. I am absolutely committed to the President's budget proposals. One of the things that I said very clearly in my statement when I spoke to the Senate Subcommittee on Ag Appropriations is, I reiterated my strong support for the President's budget and his proposal.

"And he's got it right. You know, his whole notion here is, we've got to get the deficit under control. High deficit is not good for agriculture, and every farmer and rancher out there knows that. They deal with interest rates, they deal with the need to balance their budget. So the President's goal of cutting the deficit in half over the next five years is absolutely right on target.

"The other thing that I said to the committee is, look, we appreciate some of the proposals made are sensitive, and we want to do everything we can to work with you. The first question I was asked by the chairman was, 'Mr. Secretary, I imagine what you're saying is that you're still sticking to the number.' And the answer to that question is, 'Yes'. And again, it gets back to the point that we have to be a part of this; we have to be ready and willing to do our fair share here. Every federal department is being asked to do the same.

"So we are not backing away at all. But my willingness to work with the Hill is always a part of what we do. And my hope is that we're going to get a budget resolution here, a reconciliation resolution, and really start attacking this federal deficit to help our farmers and ranchers in the long term.

"In terms of Ames-- Senator Harkin, his request was that I work with him and his office to get him information that he's seeking on the cost of the program and what that looks like. And I assured him that I am going to do that.

"This is a construction program that extends over multiple years. And so one of the pieces of that is, how do you manage the program to stay within the budget over that period of time? But Senator Harkin has made that request. It's a fair request. And as I said to him during the hearing as I said now, we'll get that information in his possession and be happy even to sit down with him to work through it."

MODERATOR: "Ron Hayes of Clear Channel Agriculture Network in Oklahoma City will be next with his question. And he'll be followed by Bill Tomson.

"Ron, go ahead."

REPORTER: "Thank you, Larry. Good morning, Mr. Secretary. Greetings from Oklahoma. A couple questions in regards to BSE. The Canadian media seems to be all abuzz with some allegations from a former USDA employee in regards to potentially mishandling some cases really back in the 1990s, 1997. Does this have any bearing or does this give us any problems as far as assuring our consumers here, assuring our consumers overseas about the safety of our beef supply?

"And then secondly, related to that are expanded BSE surveillance effort going on right now here in 2004, 2005 over 314,000 critters have been tested all negative. How long do we go? In other words, how many more animals are we going to test in this expanded surveillance effort?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "In reference to your first question, the gentleman that is making these allegations is really doing so with no proof whatsoever. There's just no mileage whatsoever in the USDA not being absolutely transparent. And in fact if we've had any criticism as you know, the criticism has been along the lines of why are you publishing false positives? And the whole effort there was to just get the information out so the claim could not be made that we were trying to cover something up as this gentleman is claiming. He gets a lot of attention because he makes baseless claims, and that's really what it comes down to. There just isn't any accuracy in what he's saying.

"Again there's just no mileage in approaching the testing this way. We feel very strongly that that testing needs to get out even to the point of publishing the false positives-- which like I said we've been criticized about because we've been so transparent there.

"The other thing I would mention in terms of the other question that you asked, you had a second question there. If you could run that by me again?"

MODERATOR: "The second question related to the effect on the markets."

SEC. JOHANNS: "Oh, Larry, thank you. The effect on the markets? We're not seeing the effect. We're not seeing anybody buying in to what he's trying to sell. I think it's getting some media attention in Canada just simply because they've been so involved with working with us to try to get the border reopened. But no. My phone is not ringing over this. Like I said, he just doesn't have any proof, and his baseless claims just aren't causing my phone to ring on this one."

MODERATOR: "And I'm reminded he did ask about how many more animals would be tested."

SEC. JOHANNS: "The other piece of your question relative to the number of animals being tested, we've tested 314,000. As of just a couple days ago. Fortunately all those tests have been negative. One of things that we want to make sure of is we've touched the bases, we've hit the areas of the country that we want to test, and so we're looking at that. We want to make sure that everything we headed out to do we've done. Somewhere out here in the next few months we'll take a look at that. As you point out, it is a surveillance effort; it is not a food safety effort. Our whole goal is to get an idea of what the herd in the United States looked like relative to BSE. And we're doing that.

"So in the next few months we'll be making an evaluation as to where we go here in terms of that increased surveillance and the number of tests to continue in the future."

MODERATOR: "Bill Tomson, Dow Jones, has the next question. He'll be followed by Carol Sugarman. Bill Tomson, go ahead, please."

REPORTER: "Mr. Secretary, I wanted to talk to you about soybean rust. I got into the conversation a little bit late as you were talking about these sentinel plans or sentinel plots excuse me. Are these plots that USDA officials are planting solely with the intention of watching them to see if Asian rust develops there? And what states will those be in?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "I will get that information to you from our press office so we can make sure that it's accurate. But we'll get that sent out as to where they're at and who has control of those plots, and make sure that's in your hands very, very quickly here."

REPORTER: "Thank you."

SEC. JOHANNS: "Yep."

MODERATOR: "Our next question is from Carol Sugarman of Food Chemical News. And she'll be followed by Sally Schuff.

"Carol?"

REPORTER: "Yes. According to the CDC Foodnet data that's going to be released later today the Salmonella rates are far from the national health objective, unlike the E-Coli rates that you mentioned. And I was just wondering why that is so and if USDA has any plans to address it."

SEC. JOHANNS: "I'll have Merle offer some thoughts on your question."

SEC. PIERSON: "Yes. For Salmonella overall the illness rates were 8 percent below the baseline of 1996 to 1998. For one of the Salmonella types, Salmonella Typhimurium, which is typically associated with meat and poultry, this fell by 41 percent. So with that particular one it fell very significantly.

"We however recognize that a lot more needs to be done relative to Salmonella, and we're working very, very closely with especially the poultry industry to address the Salmonella issue and very aggressively seek further reduction in its presence in those products.

"To this end we have our inspectors working more closely with plants relative to their plans, the implementation of those plans as well as their sanitation standard operating procedures. So we are giving very close attention to that particular issue."

MODERATOR: "Sally Schuff of Feedstuffs Magazine is next with her question, and she'll be followed Pam Golden.

"Sally?"

REPORTER: "Yes. Hi, Mr. Secretary. Thank you for taking my question."

SEC. JOHANNS: "Sure."

REPORTER: "It's the sort of perennial question that happens with most every administration. On the food safety funding, while the increase is $36 million net, $139 of that comes from user fees which traditionally are not smiled upon on the Hill. How will these new models and your increased food safety agenda work should Congress fail to fund those user fees-- fail to approve I guess?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "Well, I'm going to do everything I can to get the user fees to the finish line, and so I approach this with that goal in mind. You know, I come from the state level and before that the city level, and user fees were very, very common. And we had some outstanding programs even though a portion of the funding for that was based upon user fees."

"And so wherever I can I continue to deliver that message. We'll do everything we can to get the user fees into it, and my hope is that that in fact will make it to the finish line."

MODERATOR: "And our final question this morning comes from Pam Golden from Southern Farmer Magazine. Pam?"

REPORTER: "Hi. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I am in the South, and we are hit with a lot of the trade agreement cost versus the benefits that some other of the components of the ag industry are seeing. The question my farmers have is at what point are we going to consider the regulatory burden that they bear that other countries don't bear when we determine farm subsidies and cuts to those subsidies?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "As you negotiate yourself through trade agreements one of the things that you work on is issues like this, and many countries don't do subsidies. I mean, they just simply don't. And so one of the things they say is, well Mr. Secretary, what was the value of your farm program last year? How much money actually went out through that farm program? And so that is part of the process, and it's the very issue that you have raised.

"I will offer a very, very important thought here. I believe strongly, and it comes from not only growing up on a farm but governing in a state that was the fourth largest exporter of ag products in the United States, the state of Nebraska-- that given access to markets, the American farmer and rancher really can compete with anyone worldwide. I don't have any hesitancy in saying that, and I've said that in meetings during our negotiations with our foreign partners.

"But it does take the opportunity to have a level playing field. And over and over again when I talk to producers they urge me, they say Mike, 'We want you to level the playing field in these trade agreements.' And I think that's what your question gets to.

"Well, I've got a very important one here that does exactly that, and that's the CAFTA agreement that again we're working very, very hard to get approval on up on the Hill.

"What do I mean by it levels the playing field? Well, the current playing field isn't level for American farmers and ranchers with CAFTA nations. The CAFTA nations can import into the United States their products 99 percent duty free. But on the other hand if you're a corn producer in the United States, the duties into the CAFTA countries will be as high as 35 percent. They can go as high as 75 percent. Soybeans are at 20 percent, and it can go as high as 90 percent.

"If you're a beef producer, the duties are as high as 30 percent and they can go as high as 79 percent. In your part of the world we have cotton production, and tariffs there can rise as high as 60 percent depending upon the country.

"CAFTA brings these duties down, some right away, others over a period of time. But again, when farmers and ranchers tell me, Mike, work to level the playing field, that's exactly what is going to happen here.

"Now again, I will acknowledge the sugar folks don't like CAFTA. They don't generally support trade agreements that they're involved in. But I came from a state where we had production and processing of sugar. I've looked at the numbers, and there is such a small amount of sugar involved in this. I don't see how this impacts the sugar program which is a very controlled program.

"So believe me, this is one that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for asking that very important question because this is the very thing we need to do to improve the situation that you're talking about."

MODERATOR: Well, I thank the reporters for their questions today."

"Mr. Secretary, any closing thoughts today?"

SEC. JOHANNS: "Well, it's just great to be on the air here. I've met with many, many farm groups in the months I've been here and producers, and that's going to continue. And the information we've put out today on soybean rust and food security is very good information.

"Again, I urge people to stay in touch. If you're in a soybean production state, stay in touch with our website. It's an excellent website, and we're working very hard to keep it current and keep it to the minute current if we can. So we want you to access that because there's a lot of good information there.

"Thank you all."

MODERATOR: "Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns. I'm Larry Quinn bidding you a good morning from Washington."