Aderholt questions food safety merger
February 27, 2015 |02:28 PM
House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said Thursday he questions the wisdom of President Barack Obama’s proposal to merge all the federal food safety agencies into one agency under the Health and Human Services Department.
At a hearing on the budget for the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, Aderholt noted FSIS’s long history of meat and poultry inspection.
“I question the president’s proposal merging the duties of FSIS with the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is a large, cumbersome agency with a myriad of responsibilities, and I fear food safety would not be one of their top priorities,” he said.
Al Almanza
In his testimony, Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety Al Almanza said the budget proposal includes a request for authority to submit fast-track proposals to reorganize or consolidate programs “to reduce the size of government or cut costs” so that the administration could undertake the creation of the single food safety agency.
But he added, “The administration’s proposal will not overshadow the things that we are doing this fiscal year and plan to do in FY 2016.”
Almanza said the budget is $1.012 billion. This includes $60.9 million for state inspection programs; $3.7 million for Codex; and an additional $2.5 million for the catfish inspection program that has not yet been finalized.
He said FSIS is meeting its food safety goals and noted that over the past year, Mexico, Uruguay, Ecuador, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka all lifted longstanding restrictions to provide for full access to U.S. beef and beef products.
“This is why other nations strive to emulate our system,” Almanza said. “Safe food opens new markets from the European Union to Asia to Latin America.”
At a hearing on the budget for the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, Aderholt noted FSIS’s long history of meat and poultry inspection.
“I question the president’s proposal merging the duties of FSIS with the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is a large, cumbersome agency with a myriad of responsibilities, and I fear food safety would not be one of their top priorities,” he said.
In his testimony, Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety Al Almanza said the budget proposal includes a request for authority to submit fast-track proposals to reorganize or consolidate programs “to reduce the size of government or cut costs” so that the administration could undertake the creation of the single food safety agency.
But he added, “The administration’s proposal will not overshadow the things that we are doing this fiscal year and plan to do in FY 2016.”
Almanza said the budget is $1.012 billion. This includes $60.9 million for state inspection programs; $3.7 million for Codex; and an additional $2.5 million for the catfish inspection program that has not yet been finalized.
He said FSIS is meeting its food safety goals and noted that over the past year, Mexico, Uruguay, Ecuador, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka all lifted longstanding restrictions to provide for full access to U.S. beef and beef products.
“This is why other nations strive to emulate our system,” Almanza said. “Safe food opens new markets from the European Union to Asia to Latin America.”
