DeLauro Asks Administration for Answers on Future of Food Safety under Trans-Pacific Partnership

NEW HAVEN, CT—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today asked United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff for answers Regarding the safety of the seafood we eat under the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). DeLauro has been raising concerns around this issue since 2011, when she wrote to then-USTR Ron Kirk.

“Americans depend on government to ensure the safety of their food supply. Unfortunately, our regulatory system cannot handle the current volume of seafood imports, and it will not be able to handle an increase in volume from TPP countries that have a long track record of weak or nonexistent food safety rules. The United States already imports the overwhelming majority of the seafood that we consume, and we are discovering the unfortunate dangers that result from our reliance on cheap seafood imports,” DeLauro wrote today. “Furthermore, TPP threatens any future regulations that agencies may decide to pursue due to its investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. This mechanism would allow foreign firms to directly challenge U.S. regulations that, in their view, suppress or hinder future profit. These challenges would not fall under the jurisdiction of our federal courts; instead, they would be adjudicated in international arbitration panels comprised of corporate lawyers. It is difficult enough for FDA to find and shut down the bad actors in our current food supply. The broad expansion of rights to thousands of foreign companies that have subsidiaries in the United States under the jurisdiction of a foreign tribunal will make those efforts much more difficult.”

In addition to the 2011 letter, DeLauro, then-Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) in 2012 urged then-USTR Kirk to ensure food safety stayed a priority during TPP negotiations. DeLauro has also raised the issue with Secretary Vilsack at multiple Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearings.

Ninety percent of the fish consumed by Americans are imported, but fewer than two percent of seafood imports are physically inspected at the border. Vietnam and Malaysia, two of the 14 TPP countries are notorious for having a long track record of weak or nonexistent food safety rules. In just the past year, the FDA has refused to allow 383 imports from Vietnam and 267 from Malaysia due to adulteration, misbranding or filth.


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