WASHINGTON, DC -- As Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt touts the Bush Administration’s latest food import safety plan at the Seattle Fish Company in Denver, Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) today issued the following statement calling on the Secretary to “get serious when it comes to protecting consumers”:

“If the Bush Administration really wants to get serious about protecting consumers, it would consolidate the over 12 federal agencies that currently have oversight of our food supply. A unified food safety system would greatly enhance the safety of our nation’s food supply.

“The Administration should also grant the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) real, mandatory recall authority immediately. The Action Plan hailed earlier this month by the Administration was all talk but no action – while recommending a weak form of recall authority for the FDA, it fails to suggest any recall power for the USDA when it comes to tainted meat. Given the numerous outbreaks of contaminated meat, the USDA must have this power to protect consumers.”

DeGette has also introduced two major pieces of food safety legislation, the SAFER Act [H.R. 3484], giving the government mandatory recall authority, and the TRACE Act [H.R. 3485], establishing a product tracing system for foods. The mandatory recall provisions encompassed in the SAFER Act have been included in the Energy and Commerce Committee’s food import safety legislation, H.R. 3610, the Food and Drug Import Safety Act of 2007.

DeGette is also a cosponsor of the Food Safety Act of 2007 that would create a single food agency charged with overseeing the nation’s food supply.