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1/27/2006
HARKIN URGES FDA TO RECONSIDER RISKY PROPOSAL THAT WOULD ALLOW PROCESSED POULTRY IMPORTS FROM AVIAN FLU DEVASTATED CHINA
WASHINGTON, DC – In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike
Johanns, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) urged the Department of Agriculture
(USDA) to reconsider a proposal that would allow imports of processed
poultry from China in light of the country’s outbreaks of avian flu. To
date, ten people and more than 154,000 birds have died from avian flu
in China, and over 22.5 million birds have been culled to control the
disease. Harkin expressed doubts about USDA’s ability to enforce food
safety standards in China to protect against avian flu, and questioned
why USDA is changing its policy towards Chinese processed poultry
imports at a time when the H5N1 avian influenza strain is devastating
Asia’s poultry sector.
“The Department of Agriculture has failed to show how its proposal for
importing processed poultry from China will protect U.S. consumers and
producers from the dangers of avian flu,” Harkin said. “I urge the
Department to reconsider this rule and evaluate the risks it poses to
U.S. public health and agriculture.”
USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for
ensuring that imports of meat and poultry products meet U.S. food
safety standards. However, a recently released USDA Inspector General
(OIG) report found that FSIS had failed to take adequate measures to
remedy shortfalls in Canadian meat and poultry inspections. Harkin
believes these deficiencies cast doubt on how FSIS will handle riskier
imports, such as poultry processed in China.
“With a deadly disease like avian influenza, we cannot take
unreasonable chances. We know that USDA’s foreign food inspections have
had problems in the past and with so many unanswered questions, it is
not wise to allow processed poultry imports from China at this time,”
said Harkin. “I am concerned the administration is neglecting the
substantial public health and economic risks to United States, which
USDA itself acknowledges but fails to address.”
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