Processed Food Safety Act of 2009

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Processed Food Safety Act. When enacted, this bill will make one very important principle clear: It is the producer's responsibility to produce safe food, it is not the consumer's responsibility to make their food safe.

This legislation gives food producers and anyone else who modifies our food

two options: they can take an additional ``kill-step'' to eliminate all verifiable traces of pathogens within each ingredient they have added to the product, or they can certify to the Secretary of Agriculture that each of the ingredients used to make our food contains no verifiable traces of pathogens.

One would think that this is common sense. Wouldn't any company producing or modifying our food take the time, and the care, to make sure that their product was safe for us to eat?

Unfortunately not. Today, more than 100 years after the publishing of Upton Sinclair's ``The Jungle,'' much of our food is still produced by companies that put their profits over the health of their customers.

On any given week I can open up the newspaper and find another heartbreaking story about the serious health effects of food-borne illnesses from tainted products. Anyone who visits the Web sites of the USDA or the FDA can see that recalls are not a rare occurrence.

In the last month the USDA has recalled: Roast beef in Iowa due to the presence of undeclared allergens; canned soup in Pennsylvania due to the undeclared presence of egg in the product; beef tongues in Nebraska and Wisconsin because of improperly removed tonsils, which, when consumed, increase the risk of contracting Mad Cow Disease; and hundreds of thousands of pounds of ground beef in California, New York, and Massachusetts due to the presence of E. coli 0157--the deadliest strain of this common pathogen.

The FDA this month has recalled: Dove ice cream bars in 19 States including California for the undeclared presence of peanuts, a potentially deadly allergen; Jelly Belly Jelly Beans were also recalled due to the presence of peanuts and peanut butter in their product; apple and carrot pouches in California that may contain a spore that can lead to botulism; vegetarian spring rolls in Maine, which were found to have meat products. The uninspected meat could have contained any number of food-borne pathogens; pre-made sandwiches in North Carolina due to concerns about the presence of Listeria. These bacteria can cause serious illness, pregnancy complications and even death; salted herring in New York because of the possible presence of the spore that can lead to botulism; and dried plums in Texas, found to contain traces of lead.

Simply put, the state of our food supply is alarming. And without serious reform and leadership from this Congress, things will not get any better. That is why today I am introducing the Processed Food Safety Act.

As I said, this bill will require companies that process any kind of food, from ground beef to frozen pot pies, to test their finished products and their ingredients to make sure that they are safe to eat and pathogen free.

I mentioned ground beef and frozen pot pies, two very different items, because both of these seemingly unrelated products have been the subject of two recent exposes in the New York Times.

On October 4, 2009, writer Michael Moss highlighted the disturbing realities in the ground beef industry, at each step in the process. He found slaughterhouses don't take time to properly remove intestines and fecal matter which then contaminate meat with E. coli. These slaughterhouses then sell to grinders who agree not to test their product for contaminants. Meat grinders purchase scraps from a variety of slaughterhouses across the country and across the globe. They then combine their scraps in a way that makes it virtually impossible to trace back their ingredients for public health purposes. Federal agencies offer regulations and guidance, but they fail to compel the industry to comply with their safety standards.

Each individual oversight is a problem, but together, they represent a clear, systematic failure of the overall food safety system.

This story makes it abundantly clear that the companies producing our ground beef spend more time worrying about how to avoid testing for pathogens than they spend trying to make their products safe.

The New York Times ran another story on May 15 that highlights serious concerns about frozen chicken pot pies.

The newspaper discovered that ConAgra, a frozen food giant which produced and sold over 100 million pot pies last year, decided to make consumers responsible for killing pathogens in their products instead of taking the responsibility themselves.

As consumers, we expect that producers of these frozen meals have properly cleaned and washed their ingredients before repackaging them for sale. We expect that these frozen entrees are ready for consumption--just ``heat and eat,'' the popular advertising motto tells us.

However, as this story points out, companies have actually tried to shift this burden to the consumer by requiring very specific, often burdensome cooking instructions which require the use of a meat thermometer to test the temperature of a product in several different places.

What is even more shocking is that the authors found that it was virtually impossible to meet the cooking specifications put on the box by ConAgra.

On the outside of the box, the cooking instructions state that the product must reach 160 degrees in several places as tested by a meat thermometer, before the product is safe to eat.

However the New York Times found that even after using a higher power microwave than recommended by ConAgra, and cooking the product for an additional 1 minute and 30 seconds, 30 percent longer than recommended, parts of the pot pie did not reach the temperature recommended by ConAgra to kill pathogens within their product.

When asked if a sample of their product that was cooked above and beyond their recommendations was safe to eat even though it did not reach the recommended temperature, the company conceded that it was not safe for human consumption.

Other frozen food products from Nestle, Swanson, and Hungry-Man were also tested to see if their cooking directions were clear, simple, and adequate. Not surprisingly, the New York Times found that their tests on these products yielded similar results.

Increasingly, food producers are using consumer cooking instructions as a method to deflect responsibility for the safety of their product. These companies effectively said that it was up to the consumer to kill potentially deadly doses of E. coli and Salmonella in their frozen meals.

Under current law, food producers are allowed to get away with this. That is why I am introducing the Processed Food Safety Act.

The bill will dean up the food industry by: amending the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the sale of any processed poultry, meat or FDA-regulated food that has not undergone a pathogen reduction treatment or been certified to be virtually pathogen free; doing away with loopholes in current laws that allow for producers to add coloring, synthetic flavorings and spices to their products without informing the consumer; and banning the sale of food that has not undergone these rigorous inspections and safety procedures.

The Processed Food Safety Enhancement Act will force companies to produce safe foods. And, it will let consumers know that their health is more important than the financial interests of the food industry.

Some may argue that this bill will be too expensive, because the inspections and tests required by this bill may raise the cost of food. I believe that these concerns are short-sighted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that food- borne illnesses sicken up to 76 million people, cause 325,000 hospital visits, and cause more than 5,000 deaths each year. The CDC estimates that these illnesses annually cost American taxpayers up to $6 billion.

By another metric, the USDA food-borne illness cost calculator estimates that Salmonella cost the United States $2.6 billion in 2008, and E. coli 0157 cost $478 million.

By implementing more rigorous safety standards for our food, the Processed Food Safety Act may actually result in a substantial cost savings to the average American consumer.

But that misses the point. This bill, and this problem cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Food-borne illnesses kill up to 5,000 people every year. In this day and age, this is simply unacceptable. We cannot let this go on.

Food producers must be held responsible for the safety of their products. In the early 1900s Congress acted forcefully to prohibit the most egregious violations in food production. Today, 104 years after ``The Jungle'' was published, it is time for Congress to again take up this important fight.

The Processed Food Safety Act puts the responsibility for food safety back where it belongs. This legislation protects consumers and keeps our food safe.

I am proud to introduce this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this important, commonsense bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Processed Food Safety Act. When enacted, this bill will make one very important principle clear: It is the producer's responsibility to produce safe food, it is not the consumer's responsibility to make their food safe.

This legislation gives food producers and anyone else who modifies our food

two options: they can take an additional ``kill-step'' to eliminate all verifiable traces of pathogens within each ingredient they have added to the product, or they can certify to the Secretary of Agriculture that each of the ingredients used to make our food contains no verifiable traces of pathogens.

One would think that this is common sense. Wouldn't any company producing or modifying our food take the time, and the care, to make sure that their product was safe for us to eat?

Unfortunately not. Today, more than 100 years after the publishing of Upton Sinclair's ``The Jungle,'' much of our food is still produced by companies that put their profits over the health of their customers.

On any given week I can open up the newspaper and find another heartbreaking story about the serious health effects of food-borne illnesses from tainted products. Anyone who visits the Web sites of the USDA or the FDA can see that recalls are not a rare occurrence.

In the last month the USDA has recalled: Roast beef in Iowa due to the presence of undeclared allergens; canned soup in Pennsylvania due to the undeclared presence of egg in the product; beef tongues in Nebraska and Wisconsin because of improperly removed tonsils, which, when consumed, increase the risk of contracting Mad Cow Disease; and hundreds of thousands of pounds of ground beef in California, New York, and Massachusetts due to the presence of E. coli 0157--the deadliest strain of this common pathogen.

The FDA this month has recalled: Dove ice cream bars in 19 States including California for the undeclared presence of peanuts, a potentially deadly allergen; Jelly Belly Jelly Beans were also recalled due to the presence of peanuts and peanut butter in their product; apple and carrot pouches in California that may contain a spore that can lead to botulism; vegetarian spring rolls in Maine, which were found to have meat products. The uninspected meat could have contained any number of food-borne pathogens; pre-made sandwiches in North Carolina due to concerns about the presence of Listeria. These bacteria can cause serious illness, pregnancy complications and even death; salted herring in New York because of the possible presence of the spore that can lead to botulism; and dried plums in Texas, found to contain traces of lead.

Simply put, the state of our food supply is alarming. And without serious reform and leadership from this Congress, things will not get any better. That is why today I am introducing the Processed Food Safety Act.

As I said, this bill will require companies that process any kind of food, from ground beef to frozen pot pies, to test their finished products and their ingredients to make sure that they are safe to eat and pathogen free.

I mentioned ground beef and frozen pot pies, two very different items, because both of these seemingly unrelated products have been the subject of two recent exposes in the New York Times.

On October 4, 2009, writer Michael Moss highlighted the disturbing realities in the ground beef industry, at each step in the process. He found slaughterhouses don't take time to properly remove intestines and fecal matter which then contaminate meat with E. coli. These slaughterhouses then sell to grinders who agree not to test their product for contaminants. Meat grinders purchase scraps from a variety of slaughterhouses across the country and across the globe. They then combine their scraps in a way that makes it virtually impossible to trace back their ingredients for public health purposes. Federal agencies offer regulations and guidance, but they fail to compel the industry to comply with their safety standards.

Each individual oversight is a problem, but together, they represent a clear, systematic failure of the overall food safety system.

This story makes it abundantly clear that the companies producing our ground beef spend more time worrying about how to avoid testing for pathogens than they spend trying to make their products safe.

The New York Times ran another story on May 15 that highlights serious concerns about frozen chicken pot pies.

The newspaper discovered that ConAgra, a frozen food giant which produced and sold over 100 million pot pies last year, decided to make consumers responsible for killing pathogens in their products instead of taking the responsibility themselves.

As consumers, we expect that producers of these frozen meals have properly cleaned and washed their ingredients before repackaging them for sale. We expect that these frozen entrees are ready for consumption--just ``heat and eat,'' the popular advertising motto tells us.

However, as this story points out, companies have actually tried to shift this burden to the consumer by requiring very specific, often burdensome cooking instructions which require the use of a meat thermometer to test the temperature of a product in several different places.

What is even more shocking is that the authors found that it was virtually impossible to meet the cooking specifications put on the box by ConAgra.

On the outside of the box, the cooking instructions state that the product must reach 160 degrees in several places as tested by a meat thermometer, before the product is safe to eat.

However the New York Times found that even after using a higher power microwave than recommended by ConAgra, and cooking the product for an additional 1 minute and 30 seconds, 30 percent longer than recommended, parts of the pot pie did not reach the temperature recommended by ConAgra to kill pathogens within their product.

When asked if a sample of their product that was cooked above and beyond their recommendations was safe to eat even though it did not reach the recommended temperature, the company conceded that it was not safe for human consumption.

Other frozen food products from Nestle, Swanson, and Hungry-Man were also tested to see if their cooking directions were clear, simple, and adequate. Not surprisingly, the New York Times found that their tests on these products yielded similar results.

Increasingly, food producers are using consumer cooking instructions as a method to deflect responsibility for the safety of their product. These companies effectively said that it was up to the consumer to kill potentially deadly doses of E. coli and Salmonella in their frozen meals.

Under current law, food producers are allowed to get away with this. That is why I am introducing the Processed Food Safety Act.

The bill will dean up the food industry by: amending the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the sale of any processed poultry, meat or FDA-regulated food that has not undergone a pathogen reduction treatment or been certified to be virtually pathogen free; doing away with loopholes in current laws that allow for producers to add coloring, synthetic flavorings and spices to their products without informing the consumer; and banning the sale of food that has not undergone these rigorous inspections and safety procedures.

The Processed Food Safety Enhancement Act will force companies to produce safe foods. And, it will let consumers know that their health is more important than the financial interests of the food industry.

Some may argue that this bill will be too expensive, because the inspections and tests required by this bill may raise the cost of food. I believe that these concerns are short-sighted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that food- borne illnesses sicken up to 76 million people, cause 325,000 hospital visits, and cause more than 5,000 deaths each year. The CDC estimates that these illnesses annually cost American taxpayers up to $6 billion.

By another metric, the USDA food-borne illness cost calculator estimates that Salmonella cost the United States $2.6 billion in 2008, and E. coli 0157 cost $478 million.

By implementing more rigorous safety standards for our food, the Processed Food Safety Act may actually result in a substantial cost savings to the average American consumer.

But that misses the point. This bill, and this problem cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Food-borne illnesses kill up to 5,000 people every year. In this day and age, this is simply unacceptable. We cannot let this go on.

Food producers must be held responsible for the safety of their products. In the early 1900s Congress acted forcefully to prohibit the most egregious violations in food production. Today, 104 years after ``The Jungle'' was published, it is time for Congress to again take up this important fight.

The Processed Food Safety Act puts the responsibility for food safety back where it belongs. This legislation protects consumers and keeps our food safe.

I am proud to introduce this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this important, commonsense bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1636) celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Hoover Dam.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 1636, a bipartisan resolution, commemorates the 75th anniversary of the dedication of Hoover Dam, and recognizes the past, the present, and the future benefits of its construction to the agricultural, to the industrial, and to the urban development of the southwestern United States.

During its 75-year history, Hoover Dam has played a pivotal role in shaping what the Southwest is today, from a region with an inconsistent supply of water, to now providing water for more than 18 million people, including irrigation water for over 1 million acres of farm land in the States of Arizona, California, Nevada and 500,000 acres in Mexico. That beautiful natural resource that sparkles adds life and economy to our west.

While this facility was completed three-quarters of a century ago, it continues for today and tomorrow to provide water and power certainty for millions of people. We currently have legislation pending in the Senate, Senate bill 2819, and H.R. 4349, the Hoover Power Allocation Act of 2010. This legislation would allocate hydropower generated at Hoover Dam, estimated at

4 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power each year, for the next 50 years. I would want to reiterate our support for the enactment of this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support the passage of this bipartisan resolution. Hoover Dam is truly a marvel of engineering, of technology and human endeavor. And tomorrow this reenactment of its 75- year dedication will take place in Las Vegas.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, very, very swiftly and quickly, before I yield back the balance of my time, I thank my staff and the minority staff on this beautiful resolution that is going to commemorate some magnificent achievements by the United States to really promote what we now know as the Southwest.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, generations ago water and power visionaries came up with the idea of making the West bloom by harnessing our rivers. The Hoover Dam is a legendary example of that vision.

When completed in 1935, it was the tallest dam and the largest hydroelectric generator in the world. It literally helped create cities in the arid West and to this day, as my friend from California pointed out, still provides numerous benefits: emissions-free hydropower, drinking and irrigation water, and recreation and flood control.

This bipartisan resolution is a fitting honor to the Hoover Dam and to those who had the foresight to create one of the world's best-known engineering marvels.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.