Durbin, DeLauro Write Secretary Vilsack on Food Safety
Contact: Max Gleischman (Durbin)
202.228.5244
Adriana Surfas (DeLauro)
202-225-3661
WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) wrote a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, thanking him for his recent comments in support of a single food safety agency and requesting a meeting to discuss modernization of the nation's food safety system.
Durbin and DeLauro have long championed the creation of a single food safety agency and have introduced legislation in previous Congresses to consolidate the nation's food safety functions. The Safe Food Act (S.654, H.R.1148), would create a single food safety agency responsible for the administration and enforcement of our food safety laws. The bill would also create a national system for tracing food from the point-of-origin to retail sale.
A copy of today's letter to Secretary Vilsack can be found below.
February 9, 2009
The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Room 200-A, Jamie L. Whitten Building
12th Street and Jefferson Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20250
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We appreciated the opportunity to speak with you last month about a variety of issues, including the need for a single food safety agency.
We were very encouraged to see the press report in which you stated the need for a unified agency working within a modern framework. It was very reassuring to hear a sitting Secretary publicly take this stand.
As you know, we have long advocated for an overhaul of our fragmented food safety system. The recent problems with peanut butter, Chinese milk products, peppers, and other tainted foods reveal a food safety system in crisis, one that is unable to respond effectively to the challenges of a global food supply in order to prevent widespread outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.
Since 1998, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have been calling for a modern, risk- and science-based approach to food safety. GAO has also recommended the creation of a single, independent food safety agency. We agree with this approach and have introduced legislation in previous Congresses to unify the food safety activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other federal agencies in a single integrated agency that can provide better coordination and more effective oversight of our food safety system.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss with you how to modernize the food safety system while creating a single independent agency. We look forward to meeting with you and your new food safety team.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
Rosa L. DeLauro
United States Representative