“Thank you Mr. Chairman.
 
“I can’t say that I am glad to be here discussing this issue, Mr. Chairman.  But this is a topic of the utmost importance, and I commend you for holding this hearing and continuing your push to conduct rigorous oversight. 

“Food safety is an issue we prefer not to think about.  In the wealthiest country on the planet, we take safe food for granted.  But there’s something else we take for granted: that our nation’s corporations, and public officials, are always acting in the best interests of its citizens.  Sadly, that’s just not the case, as we’ve seen in the latest string of incidents.  

“Spinach.  Peanut butter.  Pet food.  Normal, ordinary, every day items that none of us think twice about as we go about our daily business.  But the recent headlines call into question everything we thought we knew. 

“Today we will hear heart-wrenching stories about the impacts of this crisis on real families.  I want to take this opportunity to thank these families for appearing before this committee today.  Your testimony this morning, difficult though it may be to give, will help us shed light on exactly happened, how it affected real families, and the real need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  Your courage does not go unnoticed; hopefully your message won’t either. 

“Mr. Chairman, we need real reform to our food safety laws.  Some will argue that the recent E.coli in spinach, Salmonella in peanut butter, and contaminated pet food are isolated events.  But I don’t see the latest string of incidents as aberrations.  This has become a systemic problem and it calls for a systemic solution. 

“I have been arguing for years that our nation’s food safety laws are broken.  For the past three Congresses I have introduced legislation that would tighten up the nation’s food safety regulations.  And for that entire time, I could not get a single hearing on these issues.

“One of my bills would give the FDA and USDA mandatory recall authority in the event of an outbreak.  It shocks people when I explain that during an outbreak in food borne illness, like those we will hear about today, the federal government’s hands are absolutely tied when it comes to recalls.  We must rely on the industry to voluntarily recall their products. 

“We will learn today that these companies did eventually issue recalls, but I would argue that it was far too little, far too late.  During the foot dragging, more people got sick.   

“What we need is real government oversight, and federal food safety laws that have teeth in them.  We need to pass a mandatory recall bill once and for all.  

“We also need to reform the system before there is an outbreak.  The GOP Congress starved our food protection agencies for funding.  The FDA under President Bush’s leadership is becoming more and reliant on industry to police itself.  Inspections are going down as imports are going up.  Unfortunately this latest string of incidents seems to indicate the problem is getting worse, not better.

“Mr. Chairman, thank you again for your continued eye toward oversight.  We are making progress, and I think these hearings will have an impact.  I received a letter yesterday from ConAgra Foods detailing positive changes to company food safety policies as a result of this committee’s investigation.  I hope others in the industry step up as well.

“But Congress needs to act as well.  I hope this latest, unprecedented series of outbreaks will give us the political will to begin reforming these broken laws so we can regain some semblance of order to this country’s food safety.

“I want to again thank our witnesses for appearing today.  My thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones as a result of these outbreaks.”

# # #