Subcommittee Chairman Holds Third Food Safety Hearing
October 12, 2007
On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Bart Stupak (D-MI) held a hearing to further discuss the safety of food imports from China. Committee investigators returning from China to testify before the subcommittee told lawmakers the FDA and Chinese government are responsible for food safety problems and recommended the FDA adopt an import system similar to the one Japan uses for Chinese imports. The three-panel hearing consisted of witnesses from the FDA, USDA, the Congressional Research Service, and Tyson’s Foods. Chairman Stupak voiced alarming concern over recent studies, indicating that less than 1 percent of all imports are inspected, while Chinese agricultural and seafood imports increased 346 percent between 1996 and 2006. This hearing was the third of five by the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on food safety. Earlier last month, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell introduced the "Food and Drug Import Safety Act of 2007," legislation that would create a user fee on imported food and drug shipments, give FDA authority to recall adulterated products and limit foreign food entry to ports located near one of thirteen FDA labs available to conduct analysis. For more information, contact Robert Guenther, 202-303-3400.
United Fresh Produce Association
1901 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: 202 303 3400
Fax: 202 303 3433 united@unitedfresh.org
