WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today made the following statement during an Health Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 Discussion Draft Legislation”:

“Thank you Mr. Chairman. I support there being a legislative hearing on food safety. We think it’s time to address this problem in a bipartisan fashion if at all possible. We also think it’s important that we try to get it right.

“We understand that it’s your wish, and the full committee chairman’s wish, and former Chairman Dingell’s wish, to move with legislation sometime this month. Republicans are ready to help if we can agree on a bill that provides the agency with tools that it needs to ensure the safety of our food supply, but we will not support new, blanket authorities that are designed merely to empower the bureaucracy.

“Nearly everybody says that, ‘we cannot inspect our way to food safety.’ We need systems that reliably prevent sickness by applying resources in those places that are most susceptible to contamination. The draft proposes several areas that strengthen prevention of food illness outbreaks, such as requiring all manufacturers to have food safety plans and the creation of appropriate produce standards. These ideas make sense and have near universal support.

“I am concerned, however, that parts of the draft add more weight than quality to the regulations, and provide too much discretion to the FDA without any corresponding food safety benefit. For example, country-of-origin labeling is not about food safety. As a practical matter, it will simply increase the cost of groceries at the store. We know this because expert after expert has testified at the committee that this provision has absolutely no effect on safety.

“There are several other specific concerns with the draft legislation, including the level and scope of registration fees. I will say that the registration fees are less in this draft than they have been in some previous drafts so I should at least say we’re moving in the right direction. It does appear that the majority simply wants $300 to 400 million in additional funds for the FDA and we can’t see that there’s any clear purpose for that amount of funding. I look forward to the hearing and if we can work on some of these problems, we’re prepared to be positively engaged in the markup that comes after the hearings.

“With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.”