U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspection program : joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nutrition and the Subcommittee on Livestock of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, PDF
Preview U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspection program : joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nutrition and the Subcommittee on Livestock of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress,
^ DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE U.S. MEAT NSPECTION PROGRAM I Y 4. AS 8/1 103-5 : U.S. Depaptnent of Agriculture Neat... JOINT HEAKING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPAKTMENT OPERATIONS AND NUTRITION AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON LIVESTOCK OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 16, 1993 Serial No. 103-5 / t I Printed for the use of ths Committee on Agricultiire U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 67-477 WASHINGTON : 1993 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-041151-3 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE V) U.S. MEAT NSPECTION PROGRAM I ' Y 4. AG 8/1 103-5 ; U.S. Departneat of Agriculture Heat... JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS AND NUTRITION AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON LIVESTOCK OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 16, 1993 Serial No. 103-5 I f Printed for the use of ths Committee on Agriculture U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 67-477 WASHINGTON : 1993 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-0A1151-3 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA, Texas, Chairman GEORGE E. BROWN, Jr., California, PAT ROBERTS, Kansas, Vice Chairman Ranking Minority Member CHARLIE ROSE, North Carolina BILL EMERSON, Missouri GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma STEVE GUNDERSON, Wisconsin DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas TOM LEWIS, Florida CHARLES W. STENHOLM, Texas ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, Oregon HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri LARRY COMBEST, Texas TIMOTHYJ. PENNY, Minnesota WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota BILL BARRETT, Nebraska BILL SARPALIUS, Texas JIM NUSSLE, Iowa JILL L. LONG, Indiana JOHN A. BOEHNER, Ohio GARY A. CONDIT, California THOMAS W. EWING, Illinois COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, CaUfomia CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California JACK KINGSTON, Georgia EVA M. CLAYTON, North CaroUna BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia DAVID MINGE, Minnesota JAY DICKEY, Arkansas EARL F. HILLIARD. Alabama RICHARD W. POMBO, California JAY mSLEE, Washington CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida THOMAS BARLOW J. III, Kentucky EARL POMEROY, North Dakota TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia SCOTTY BAESLER, Kentucky KAREN L. THURMAN, Florida SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia PAT WILLIAMS, Montana BLANCHE M. LAMBERT, Arkansas Professional Staff DiANNE Powell, StaffDirector Vernie Hubert, ChiefCounsel andLegislative Director Gary R. Mitchell, Minority StaffDirector James A. Davis, Press Secretary Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nutrition CHARLES W. STENHOLM, Texas, Chairman GEORGE E. BROWN, JR., California, ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, Oregon Vice Chairman BILL EMERSON, Missouri BILL SARPALIUS, Texas STEVE GUNDERSON, Wisconsin CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado JAY INSLEE, Washington BILL BARRETT, Nebraska GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma THOMAS W. EWING, Illinois DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas JACK KINGSTON, Georgia CYNTHIAA. McKINNEY, Georgia CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri EVAM. CLAYTON, North Carolina TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania CHARLIE ROSE, North CaroUna BLANCHE M. LAMBERT, Arkansas (II) Ill Subcommittee on Livestock HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri, Chairman GARY A. CONDIT. California, STEVE GUNDERSON, Wisconsin Vice Chairman TOM LEWIS, Florida EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama' ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, Oregon CHARLES W. STENHOLM, Texas JOHN A. BOEHNER, Ohio TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia JILL L. LONG, Indiana RICHARD W. POMBO, California COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota CHARLIE ROSE, North Carolina CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California KAREN L. THURMAN, Florida CONTENTS Page Allard, Hon. Wayne, a Representative in Congress from the State ofColorado, opening statement 4 Cl^^n, Hon. Eva M., a Representative in Congress from the State ofNorth Cfarolina, prepared statement 5 Roberts, Hon. Pat, a Representative in Congress from the State of Kansas, writtenquestions 36 Smith, Hon. Robert F. (Bob), a Representative in Congress from the State ofOregon, openingstatement 2 Prepared statement 3 Stenholm, Hon. Charles W., a Representative in Congress from the State ofTexas, openingstatement 1 Volkmer, Hon. Harold L., a Representative in Congress from the State of Missouri, openingstatement 6 WiThfESSES Cassens, Robert G., professor, department ofmeat and animal science, Uni- versityofWisconsin 51 Prepared statement 151 Cross, H. Russell, Administrator, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. DepartmentofAgriculture 7 Prepared statement 64 Denton, James H., professor, department head and director, center ofexcel- lence forpoultryscience. UniversityofArkansas 53 Prepared statement 154 Doyle, Michael P., Member, Food and Nutrition Board, Institute ofMedicine, National Academy ofSciences, and professor, food microbiology, center for food safety and qualityenhancement. UniversityofGeorgia 48 Prepared statement 133 Harman, John W., Director, Food and A^culture Issues, Resources, Commu- ni^, and Economic DevelopmentDivision, U.S. GeneralAccountingOflBce .. 16 Prepared statement 115 Hughes, James M., M.D., Director, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, U.S. DepartmentofHealth and Human Services 13 Prepared statement 86 Rodericks, Joseph V., senior vice president. Environ Corp., former chairman. Committee on Public Health Rjsk Assessment of Poultry Inspection Pro- grams, NationalAcademy ofSciences 49 Prepared statement 147 Submitted Material American Public HealthAssociation, statement 159 (V) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE MEAT U.S. INSPECTION PROGRAM MARCH TUESDAY, 16, 1993 House of Representatives; Subcommittee on De- partment Operations and Nutrition; Joint With Subcommittee on Livestock; Committee on Agri- culture, Washington, DC. The subcommittees met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in room 1300, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Charles W. Stenholm (chairman ofthe Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nu- trition) presiding, together with Hon. Harold L. Volkmer (chairman ofthe Subcommittee on Livestock). Present from the Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nutrition: Representatives Stenholm, Sarpalius, Dooley, Inslee, Enghsh, McKinney, Bishop, Volkmer, Clayton, Holden, Lambert, Smith, Gunderson, Allard, and Ewing. Present from the Subcommittee on Livestock: Representatives Volkmer, Stenholm, Holden, Long, Peterson, Dooley, Gunderson, Smith, Boehner, and Goodlatte. Also present: Representative E (Kika) de la Garza, chairman of the committee. Staff present: Andy Baker, assistant counsel; Julia M. Paradis, assistant counsel; WiUiam E. O'Conner, Jr., minority pohcy coordi- nator; John E. Hogan, minority coimsel; Dale Moore, minority leg- islative coordinator; Glenda L. Temple, clerk; Stan Ray, Rob Wight, Tim De Coster, Dan McGrath, Curt Mann, Pete Thomson, and John Frank. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES W. STENHOLM, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS Mr. Stenholm. Good morning. The hearing will come to order. Today, we are pleased to join with the Subcommittee on Livestock in our continued effort to review the Federal meat and poultry in- spection system. We say "continued" and emphasize continued be- cause although recent events have drawn significant attention to this issue, we have been working for many years to make signifi- cant, science-based improvements in our inspection system; but as many in this room are aware, this issue has historically been very contentious and complex and, unfortunately, we have not been as successful as we would have liked. Overall, we have a very safe food supply at a very reasonable cost, that many of us take for granted in this coimtry. I want to stress this point to the media here today. This hearing is not de- (1) signed to advance the cause of those whose interests are anything otherWtehan making responsible improvements in our inspection sys- tem. are here today because this committee firmly believes that we have the most abundant and safest food supply at the lowest relative cost of any other country in the world, but we want to make it better. If improvements can be made to reflect our best available science, we owe it to the American consimiers, taxpayers, and the meat and poultry industry to pursue those improvements. It is in this context w—e beheve our meat inspection system can and should be improved brought into the 1990's based on our best science and technology. This committee wants to help make this happen. It is our objective, and it is my objective as chairman of the De- partment Operations and Nutrition Subcommittee, to provide a forum for produc—ers and consumers to begin talking to each other about this issue ^finding common ground and mutual solutions. In my mind, that common ground should be based on the best avail- able science, not emotional scare tactics and not standards founded on business as usual within the industry. With that in mind, we begin the process today with a hearing that hopefully identifies the current situation and the science-ori- ented spectrum of options before us. As we roll up our sleeves and go to work, it is our intent that this merely be the beginning of a series of efforts that will lead to this joint subcommittee hearing and all interested parties ultimately addressing this issue and fi- nally bringing it to a satisfactory solution. Mr. Smith. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OREGON Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The recent E. coli outbreak, even though caused by improper cooking, points out the need to be vigilant about consumer con- fidence and food safety. It is clear that the current meat and poul- try inspection system, while the best in the world, can be improved. Any improvement plan should be driven by soimd scientific prin- ciples, and I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, on that very important point. It should not be driven by panic, peddling interest groups, not by the worries over labor relations nor media hype, and not as a method to tax the hvestock industry unnecessarily. So I thank you for bringing this subject to the Congress and our opportunity to look exactly at the issue and to listen to experts, whom we have here today, to discuss how we can indeed improve the inspection system and continue the consumer confidence that we have had held for the last 50 years. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [The prepared statement ofMr. Smith follows:]
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