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REMARKS  BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		United Fresh Fruits And Vegetables Association, Washington,  D.C.
DATE:		September 21,1999

For those of you from out of town, I'd like to officially welcome you to the nation's capital - home to the President who always eats his broccoli.

Speaking of broccoli, when I talk to parents about the importance of good nutrition, I sometimes read to them a few words of wisdom from children. One child said this when asked what he had learned about nutrition in school that day: "I learned that you can't hide your broccoli in milk."

If that seems obvious, consider another pearl of food wisdom - this time from an expert on nutrition. After a lengthy presentation at a conference not unlike this one, the expert observed: "Food is an important part of a balanced diet."

Even in Washington - where arguing is a way of life - it's hard to argue with that. Perhaps what the expert meant to say was that eating fruits and vegetables on a daily basis helps pave the road to a longer and healthier life.

I learned that wisdom at my father's knee. As a child, I was a proud produce stacker at my father's grocery store in Cleveland, and I can still remember the mounds of fresh fruit and vegetables, and customers leaning over to smell, squeeze and pick what I knew to be God's bounty.

Of course, neither my father nor I understood the complex and important biochemical changes that occur when we eat fruits and vegetables. In fact, back then, no one knew what we know today. And, frankly, we're still learning.

Every day, scientists discover more and more about the benefits of fruits and vegetables in promoting health, supporting active lives, and reducing the risk of chronic diseases, including many types of cancer.

The bottom line is that when we call on Americans to eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day -- combined with maintaining optimum weight, increasing physical activity, and reducing intake of fat - we're calling on them to be the number one guardians of their own health.

Because inside that apple, head of lettuce, or stalk of celery is not only great taste-but longer life, healthier families and a stronger nation.

That's exactly why we started the National 5-A-Day for Better Health program - to raise awareness about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables every day. That's why we made the increased intake of fruits and vegetables such an important part of our Healthy People 2000 objectives-- recommendations that are being further strengthened as we prepare our Healthy People 2010 goals.

And that's why we're teaming up with the USDA and our many partners, to promote and strengthen our Dietary Guidelines for Americans - which include making fruits and vegetables a daily part of America's eating pattern.

Needless to say, none of these efforts would be successful - and none would continue to be successful - without your support. With your continued dedication and leadership, we will no doubt build on the foundation of health promotion and disease prevention through diet that we've laid down over the last decade.

Of course, as much as your conference is about finding new ways to get Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables, it is also an opportunity to look at how changes in America's eating habits can impact the safety of America's food supply - including the fact that Americans are eating out more, resulting in more people involved in food preparation.

It's an opportunity to recognize other new challenges facing our food safety system -- including new pathogens that are emerging.and familiar ones that are growing more resistant to treatment

Most important, it is an opportunity to explore ways that we can improve our food safety system so that no food-borne illnesses slip through the cracks.

So what's our recipe for doing this? First, we proudly recognize that we already have one of the safest food supplies in the world. And second, we continue to look for new ways to re-engineer the system that served this nation so well in the past - to make sure it meets America's needs in the future.

Re-engineering means applying good science, good public health, good sense, and good practices at every step along the food chain. In short, building a seamless system of food safety that goes from growing to selling; from cutting-edge research to fair regulation; and from tough inspection to close cooperation between government and industry - both foreign and domestic.

From day one, President Clinton, Vice President Gore, USDA, HHS, and our many partners in the agricultural community, have understood that even though America has one of the safest food supplies in the world, we can make it even better. That's why the President has recommended increasing funds for food safety by $105 million in next year's budget - a significant investment for food safety activities at HHS and other departments. And that's why the President created the Food Safety Initiative and the Food Safety Council.

As you may know, these efforts are providing a structure to help ensure that every government agency involved with food safety works cooperatively to meet common goals -- from using a nationwide early warning system for food-borne illness, to expanding food safety research and public education programs such as the "FIGHT BAC!" campaign, to increasing inspections of food at every point in the chain of production.

I'm very proud of our department's work on behalf of food safety. In particular, I'm proud of the inspiring leadership and dedication provided by the Food and Drug Administration - which, along with CDC, has been at the forefront of our efforts to build a sound, science-based system.

One area where FDA has continuously led the way is getting an effective food safety message out to the public. And now, we are providing one more important tool to do just that.

It's my pleasure today to announce the opening of FDA's new Outreach and Information Center - an important new resource that will help put the most up-to-date, reliable food safety information at the fingertips of those who need it most - American consumers. The center will operate a new expanded public hotline - 1-888-SAFEFOOD. In addition to providing food safety information, the new center will provide one-stop shopping on many other issues, including cosmetics, food additives and dietary supplements.

Of course, in addition to our outreach efforts, I'm also very proud of what we are accomplishing across the entire Department. At CDC, for instance, we launched a collaborative interagency initiative called PulseNet. This national public health laboratory network fingerprints bacteria so we can do an even better job detecting food-borne illness. Today, we can directly detect and quantify E. coli within 30 minutes, a process that used to take as long as two days.

In addition to PulseNet, we're strengthening FoodNet by expanding the capacity of each of our "sentinel sites" across the country. This active surveillance system for food-borne diseases helps scientists and public health officials better understand the epidemiology of food-borne diseases in the U.S., and also helps create stronger hazard prevention programs.

Of course, improved outreach and better science by themselves won't protect America's food supply. That is especially true in light of changes over the last thirty years in America's eating habits.

There's a saying here in Washington that, "All politics is local." But when we describe the food Americans put on their table, the word "local" doesn't always apply. In fact, Americans eat more imported food than ever before, and they have more choices than ever before.

Back when my father ran his grocery store and I was his produce person, just a dozen kinds of fruits and vegetables were available year-round. Today, you can buy a different kind of fruit or vegetable every day of the year -- many grown on the other side of the world.

That's exactly why the President's Food Safety Initiative is working toward a food safety system that not only has the ability to conduct inspections at our own borders -- but one that can ensure imported foods meet the same level of protection and scrutiny as US products.

That means finding ways to expand the tools available to the FDA and U.S. Customs - from marking food that has been denied entry for safety reasons to sending FDA experts abroad to work closely with foreign food safety officials to ensure high standards of safe production.

Because we all know that it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch. It only takes one shipment of contaminated food to threaten hundreds, even thousands, of Americans.

But I have to tell you: proud as I am about the progress we've made in building a comprehensive, science- based approach to food safety - we know the federal government cannot do this job alone. True success depends on state and local government, consumers, public health professionals, and, of course, leaders like each of you --working together as partners to ensure a seamless 21st century food safety system.

The fruits and vegetables industry has consistently demonstrated the kind of cooperative spirit essential to protecting the public health. The Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices Guidelines that we developed together continue to lead us toward overall improvements in the cleanliness and sanitation of produce. And the quick action taken by the fruit and vegetable industry to remove misbranded or contaminated products from the market has helped us in our fight to isolate outbreaks and prevent further illnesses.

But the fact is that we must - and can -- do more. Because even one outbreak of a food-borne illness is one too many.

And that's why I want to challenge each of you to continue improving upon your commendable efforts to ensure safe produce. I want to challenge you to continue to use your proven leadership skills to increase awareness of potential contamination at every level of the food safety chain. But, most important, I want to challenge everyone here -- -- whether you represent large corporations or small family owned businesses -- to continue to work closely with us as we work to strengthen our seamless system of food safety, a system that, above all, protects America's health and America's future.

In talking about increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables -- and our efforts to protect our food supply from food-borne illnesses -- we have a lot to be proud of.

So as we look ahead, as allies and partners, I'd like to leave you with a comment once made by the great chef, James Beard, who said: "Food is our common ground, our universal experience."

Well, if there is a universal experience we can encourage to improve the health of the nation, it is eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day. And if there is common ground when it comes to food safety, it is the pride we have in our food safety system - and our commitment to make that system even better. Thank you.