DeLauro Calls For USDA to Halt Rule
Allowing Chinese Chicken into the United States
Washington , D.C. – With questions swirling around China ’s food safety system and the increasing frequency of reports highlighting the country’s lax regulations, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) sent the following letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns about the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) intent to move forward with a rule that would allow domestic Chinese chicken to be imported into the U.S. Currently, chicken from the U.S. can be shipped to China to be cooked and processed and then sent back to the U.S.
“Given the recent controversy over contaminated food products imported from China and the recent news accounts describing the unsanitary conditions in food processing facilities in that country, I have become more alarmed about FSIS’s dogmatic insistence on moving forward with a proposal that would allow domestic Chinese chicken to enter the country. There has yet to be any interest from U.S. companies in shipping raw poultry to China for processing so it can be exported back to the U.S., and expanding this plan to include domestic Chinese chicken would be dangerous,” said DeLauro.
The text of the letter follows:
May 1, 2007
The Honorable Mike Johanns
Secretary of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
Room 200-A, Jamie L. Whitten Building
12th Street & Jefferson Drive, SW
Washington , DC 20250-0002
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing to strongly urge you to remove the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a country eligible to export processed poultry products to the United States under the provisions of 9 CFR 381.196. I also urge you to cease all regulatory proposals to expand the PRC’s ability to export food products under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
As I have indicated to you in previous meetings, I have been opposed to FSIS’ decision to grant the PRC equivalency status so that it would be eligible to export processed poultry to the United States provided that raw poultry was slaughtered in either the United States or Canada (71 FR 20867, April 24, 2006).
The rule granting PRC equivalency status was ill-advised for a number of reasons:
1) There were inadequate safeguards to ensure that the poultry would be processed under sanitary conditions and under proper food safety controls. FSIS inspectors found filthy conditions in both 2004 and 2005 when they visited Chinese poultry processing and slaughter facilities;
2) The PRC has not been able to control the rampant smuggling of poultry and poultry products to other countries around the world, including the U.S. Smuggled poultry products from the PRC have been the subject of a number of seizures here in the U.S. that have been investigated by USDA’s Office of Inspector General.
3) From an economic standpoint, it was unrealistic since a North American firm would have to export raw poultry to the PRC for processing only for it to be shipped back here to the United States; and
4) The PRC has been a focal point of avian influenza outbreaks in the world, increasing the threat of bringing the disease to the U.S. ;
Perhaps the most troubling aspect about this rule was how it was expedited through the regulatory process so that it could be presented to PRC President Hu Jintao during his visit to the White House in April 2006. FSIS published the proposed rule on November 23, 2005, closed the public comment period on January 23, 2006, and approved the rule on April 20, 2006. This is an alarming rate considering the food safety implications of the rule.
Not surprisingly, no U.S. company has been interested in shipping raw poultry to the PRC so that it can be processed and exported back to the United States . The PRC’s Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has acknowledged that the rule is not economical and now is seeking USDA approval to export processed Chinese domestic poultry to the U.S.
In January 2007, Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety, assured PRC officials that the agency would begin the regulatory process to permit the PRC to export poultry products to the U.S. that were processed from slaughtered birds of domestic origin. As late as April 30, 2007, Dr. Raymond was quoted in press reports that he still is proceeding with rulemaking on this issue.
After all of the recent controversy over contaminated animal feed that originated in the PRC and the recent news accounts describing the filthy human food detained by the Food and Drug Administration that was exported to the United States by the PRC, it is alarming that USDA still is considering the approval of food imports from the PRC.
It is necessary to rescind the April 24, 2006 regulation granting the PRC equivalency status to export processed poultry to the U.S. and halt the regulatory efforts to expand the scope of that equivalency status until the PRC can demonstrate that it has a modern food safety regulatory system that can adequately police its food processing establishments. USDA should use its authority to enforce food safety standards of meat and poultry imports to protect our food supply.
Sincerely,
ROSA L. DeLAURO
Chairwoman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture
Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration,
and Related Agencies
###
Allowing Chinese Chicken into the United States
Washington , D.C. – With questions swirling around China ’s food safety system and the increasing frequency of reports highlighting the country’s lax regulations, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) sent the following letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns about the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) intent to move forward with a rule that would allow domestic Chinese chicken to be imported into the U.S. Currently, chicken from the U.S. can be shipped to China to be cooked and processed and then sent back to the U.S.
“Given the recent controversy over contaminated food products imported from China and the recent news accounts describing the unsanitary conditions in food processing facilities in that country, I have become more alarmed about FSIS’s dogmatic insistence on moving forward with a proposal that would allow domestic Chinese chicken to enter the country. There has yet to be any interest from U.S. companies in shipping raw poultry to China for processing so it can be exported back to the U.S., and expanding this plan to include domestic Chinese chicken would be dangerous,” said DeLauro.
The text of the letter follows:
May 1, 2007
The Honorable Mike Johanns
Secretary of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
Room 200-A, Jamie L. Whitten Building
12th Street & Jefferson Drive, SW
Washington , DC 20250-0002
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing to strongly urge you to remove the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a country eligible to export processed poultry products to the United States under the provisions of 9 CFR 381.196. I also urge you to cease all regulatory proposals to expand the PRC’s ability to export food products under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
As I have indicated to you in previous meetings, I have been opposed to FSIS’ decision to grant the PRC equivalency status so that it would be eligible to export processed poultry to the United States provided that raw poultry was slaughtered in either the United States or Canada (71 FR 20867, April 24, 2006).
The rule granting PRC equivalency status was ill-advised for a number of reasons:
1) There were inadequate safeguards to ensure that the poultry would be processed under sanitary conditions and under proper food safety controls. FSIS inspectors found filthy conditions in both 2004 and 2005 when they visited Chinese poultry processing and slaughter facilities;
2) The PRC has not been able to control the rampant smuggling of poultry and poultry products to other countries around the world, including the U.S. Smuggled poultry products from the PRC have been the subject of a number of seizures here in the U.S. that have been investigated by USDA’s Office of Inspector General.
3) From an economic standpoint, it was unrealistic since a North American firm would have to export raw poultry to the PRC for processing only for it to be shipped back here to the United States; and
4) The PRC has been a focal point of avian influenza outbreaks in the world, increasing the threat of bringing the disease to the U.S. ;
Perhaps the most troubling aspect about this rule was how it was expedited through the regulatory process so that it could be presented to PRC President Hu Jintao during his visit to the White House in April 2006. FSIS published the proposed rule on November 23, 2005, closed the public comment period on January 23, 2006, and approved the rule on April 20, 2006. This is an alarming rate considering the food safety implications of the rule.
Not surprisingly, no U.S. company has been interested in shipping raw poultry to the PRC so that it can be processed and exported back to the United States . The PRC’s Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has acknowledged that the rule is not economical and now is seeking USDA approval to export processed Chinese domestic poultry to the U.S.
In January 2007, Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety, assured PRC officials that the agency would begin the regulatory process to permit the PRC to export poultry products to the U.S. that were processed from slaughtered birds of domestic origin. As late as April 30, 2007, Dr. Raymond was quoted in press reports that he still is proceeding with rulemaking on this issue.
After all of the recent controversy over contaminated animal feed that originated in the PRC and the recent news accounts describing the filthy human food detained by the Food and Drug Administration that was exported to the United States by the PRC, it is alarming that USDA still is considering the approval of food imports from the PRC.
It is necessary to rescind the April 24, 2006 regulation granting the PRC equivalency status to export processed poultry to the U.S. and halt the regulatory efforts to expand the scope of that equivalency status until the PRC can demonstrate that it has a modern food safety regulatory system that can adequately police its food processing establishments. USDA should use its authority to enforce food safety standards of meat and poultry imports to protect our food supply.
Sincerely,
ROSA L. DeLAURO
Chairwoman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture
Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration,
and Related Agencies
###