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REMARKS BY: DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: President's Council on Food Safety Public Meeting, Washington, D.C. DATE: October 2, 1998
Will Rogers liked to say that "Political promises are about as solid as applesauce." Which, by the way, the FDA does regulate.But some promises are just too important not to keep. Like the promise that our food supply will be safe for every American, everywhere, every day. It's a promise that touches all of us. It's a promise that speaks to government's most basic function -- to safeguard the well being of its citizens. And it's a promise that this Administration has been working hard to keep.
It's true that we already have one of the safest food supplies in the world -- with the best food safety agencies, the highest standards, and the most advanced science. But when it comes to food safety.when it comes to what we feed our children and ourselves.good enough is never enough -- we must always do more. So from day one, we've taken concrete steps -- from the creation of the President's Council on Food Safety.to increased surveillance through FoodNet.to the landmark Food Safety Initiative.
In a few moments, you'll hear about a few of the Department of Agriculture's initiatives. But I want to briefly touch on my Department's efforts which generally fall into three areas: Prevention, intervention and education. Prevention is the key to keeping food safe from farm to factory to family table. To help stop outbreaks of food-borne illness before they start, we've already inspected more than 2,000 domestic seafood processors. And we're going to meet with the rest by the end of year. We'll help these processors develop "Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point" plans-to reduce the chances of contaminated food ending up in our markets and meals.
But sometimes, despite the best prevention efforts and intentions, a food borne-illness manages to strike. And that's when timely intervention becomes critical. We all saw this in the spring, when nearly 200 people became ill as salmonella spread sickness across twelve states and fear across the country. Our new "PulseNet" system a computerized database that "fingerprints" bacterial DNA and transmits the information directly to the CDC was put to work to identify the source. And PulseNet quickly pinpointed the common source of a widespread problem. It helped us find salmonella in a very unusual place toasted oat cereal and it stopped the spread of illness in its tracks.
Of course, we know that if we truly want to safeguard our food supply then we must complement intervention and prevention with education. Later this month, we'll be issuing our "Good Agricultural Practices" guide. Developed with input from a series of public meetings, it's a handbook on the safe production and processing of fruits and vegetables. It addresses areas such as water quality, transportation and sanitation areas where we need to take special precautions to stop the seed of food-borne illness from taking root in our produce. And we hope this handbook will become a benchmark for food safety guides.
I'm proud of HHS accomplishments in the areas of prevention, intervention and education. But these are steps to build on not to rest on. And that's why we're all here today. Our first challenge our call to action is to design a strategic food safety plan that will strengthen existing programs.target our resources.and increase integration between all levels of government and the private sector.
We need a plan that addresses the food safety problems that result from our global economy with its international shipping and its international travel. We need a plan that has its foundation in the best available science and builds on the Administration's efforts to target promising areas of research; to coordinate our research projects; and to enhance our ability to assess food safety risks. And we need a plan that copies the successful model of our Food Safety Initiative and combines regulation, prevention, intervention, enforcement and education.
Of course, we can only achieve such a plan with the active participation and input of all stakeholders: consumers, industry and government. And we can only achieve such a plan if we all continue to work together across agency lines across the public-private divide and across the walls that divide consumer and industry. The real work begins today. And I'm confident we will meet the challenge and produce a plan that will help create a seamless food safety net.
As for me, I look forward to working with my fellow Council co-chairs, and all of you. And I pledge to find every opportunity to enhance cooperation and coordination between my department, other food safety agencies and industry, to make sure that every stakeholder always has a voice at the table, and to help this Administration fulfill its promise to ensure that our food supply is safe for every American, everywhere, every day.