United Fresh President Tom Stenzel (right) talks with FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg (center) and Grocery Manufacturers Association President Pamela Bailey (left).

United Fresh President Tom Stenzel urged members of the House of Representatives Wednesday to clearly and unequivocally support science-based, commodity-specific standards in the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 being considered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

For the eleventh time in two years, United Fresh President Tom Stenzel was called to testify, and offered qualified support for the draft legislation introduced by Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) last week. Tom was joined by representatives from the Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Center for Science in the Public Interest and Tennessee Department of Health on a panel to address the highly-publicized ills of the nation's food safety system.

"Over the past two years, we have been able to build the consensus in Congress that recognizes that fresh produce demands a commodity-specific approach – one size does not fit all," Tom said. "Every major piece of food safety legislation introduced by the many players in Congress incorporates these principles that we've fought for, and now we must ensure that the final bill that comes out of the Energy and Commerce Committee is clear in its support for this approach."

Tom's testimony addressed the draft legislation through the lens of United's broad policy-guiding principles demanding a commodity-specific approach based on the best available science; consistent and equitable standards for domestic and imported produce commodities; and be federally mandated with sufficient federal oversight of compliance in order to be most credible to consumers.

Tom recommended in his testimony a number of areas where the draft bill needs to be enhanced to garner the industry's support, including commodity-specific produce safety standards, traceability requirements, fair treatment of domestic and imported foods, categorization of fresh processing facilities for FDA inspection, geographical quarantine authority, country-of-origin labeling, and facility registration fees.

"It is time to end the fears of food safety that have no place in the fresh produce department," Stenzel said. "We must all be able to trust the overall system of government oversight and industry responsibility, working together to produce the safest possible supply of fresh, healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables."

A full transcript of Stenzel's testimony may be found by clicking here.