Chairman, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

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1 APRIL 3, 2014 BUDGET HEARING: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOOD SAFETY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION HEARING CONTENTS: OPENING STATEMENT: WITNESSES: Robert Aderholt [view pdf] Chairman, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Mr. Brian Ronholm [view pdf] Acting Under Secretary of Food Safety Mr. Phil Derfler [view pdf] Deputy Administrator, Food Safety and Inspection Service Mr. Michael Young [statement not available] Budget Officer, Department of Agriculture COMPILED FROM: This hearing compilation was prepared by the Homeland Security Digital Library, Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

2 FY 2015 Budget Hearing Food Safety and Inspection Service April 3, 2014 Opening Statement As Prepared I want to welcome to the Subcommittee today s witnesses Mr. Brian Ronholm, Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety; Mr. Phil Derfler, the Deputy Administrator for the Food Safety and Inspection Service; and Mr. Mike Young, USDA s Budget Director. Today we will focus on the fiscal year 2015 budget request of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which totals approximately $1 billion. USDA s Food Safety and Inspection Service works to ensure that our nation s supply of meat, poultry and processed eggs are safe, wholesome, and correctly packaged and labeled. FSIS is comprised of more than 9,400 employees and regulates more than 6,400 establishments across the United States. Approximately 80 percent of the FSIS budget is for personnel salaries and benefits. While there will be questions related to your budget request, I expect that Members will have plenty of oversight questions as well. One of my goals here today is to ensure the proper use of funds through our oversight responsibility. Without a doubt there is likely to be lively debate about your agency s poultry modernization rule, which leads to another goal of ensuring the appropriate level of regulation is in place to protect the public health. The Administration has assured us that this particular regulation will demonstrate positive health results and cost less to implement. As we discuss various FSIS rules and regulations, let s be clear about one thing: America is blessed with the safest food supply in the world. When false accusations and misinformation enters the media and public domain, it is a disservice to America s farmers, ranchers and consumers. Sound science should always guide food safety decisions. My third goal is to ensure taxpayer funds are targeted to the most vital programs. Unquestionably, the work performed by the men and women at FSIS on a daily basis on behalf of consumers and taxpayers is some of the most important work that the Federal government conducts. I appreciate the work of all FSIS employees who strive to keep safe meat, poultry, and egg products available for all consumers. #####

3 For release only by the Committee on Appropriations FOOD SAFETY Statement of Brian Ronholm, Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety Before the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives Introduction Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Farr, and members of the Subcommittee, I am Brian Ronholm, Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With me are Al Almanza, Administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Michael Young, USDA s Budget Officer. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the status of the agency's programs and policies. I am pleased to appear before you today in support of the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 budget request for FSIS, which is set at $1.001 billion, a $9.3 million decrease from FY With this funding level, I am confident that FSIS will maintain the effectiveness of its core mission of preventing food-borne illness. By law, FSIS is required to examine and inspect all livestock and poultry slaughtered and processed for use in commerce for human food. Our inspectors and veterinarians monitor the health of the animals brought to slaughter and ensure that livestock are treated humanely. These inspectors also collect the samples that our scientists analyze for the presence of pathogens and residues. These dedicated men and women are on the front lines nationwide following regulations and directives backed by scientific evidence to ensure that meat, poultry, and processed eggs in commerce are safe and wholesome. FSIS frontline and support personnel are poised to maintain and accomplish the agency s mission, and indeed we are legally required to have a sufficient number of inspectors present in every single meat and poultry plant in the country. Like any organization, FSIS has a vacancy 1

4 rate that fluctuates as inspectors leave work or retire. But FSIS always prioritizes food safety inspection and dedicates significant resources toward ensuring that all plants have the required number of inspectors. I am confident that the budget we have presented will provide every establishment we regulate in this country with appropriate staffing levels. Our Mission The main driver of FSIS Strategic Plan is the focus on the Agency s public health mission and the ability to adapt to evolving food safety risks. Our Annual Performance Plans and Reports are linked to the Strategic Plan and hold the Agency accountable by reporting on the accomplishments and deficiencies, as measured by 36 specific items within eight goals. FY 2013 Accomplishments The first goal in the Strategic Plan is to ensure that food safety inspection aligns with existing and emerging risks. As noted in the budget, the All-Illness Measure shows a reduction of 479,621 in FY 2012 to 427,171 in FY 2013, representing a reduction of about 52,000 illnesses. In addition to the reduction in the All-Illness Measure, FSIS met or exceeded 81 percent of its 32 annual performance measures in FY The Agency s accomplishments included: Launching the Salmonella Action Plan; Expanding our work using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outbreak data to estimate foodborne illness attribution for FSIS-regulated product; Adding three major functionalities to the Public Health Information System (PHIS), as well as implementing it in 23 State Meat and Poultry Inspection programs;. Expanding the number of establishments employing a humane handling systematic approach; Increasing public education targets with at-risk and vulnerable audiences; and Improving traceback timelines, as well as response time in which consumer complaints were investigated. 2

5 To help our agency be more user-friendly to small and very small establishments, we published a Small Plant News Guidebook about how to develop a recall plan, developed a new rule on generic labeling, improved our electronic Label Submission and Approval System (LSAS), and updated our PHIS industry user guidelines. However, while these accomplishments are significant, our most recent Annual Performance Report for FY 2013 demonstrates that there is much work to do, especially in reducing the incidence of Salmonella. Salmonella Salmonella is one of the most challenging issues FSIS faces in keeping America s food supply safe. We share the frustration expressed by many with the recent outbreaks of salmonellosis over the past year, and want to emphasize that combating Salmonella is the agency s top priority. In 2013, the Agency developed the Salmonella Action Plan, which outlines the actions FSIS will take to lower Salmonella contamination rates on meat and poultry products. The plan includes developing a new performance standard for comminuted poultry, as well as new strategies for inspection to address potential sources of Salmonella contamination throughout the food production process. Finally, the plan realigns the agency s education and outreach tools to raise public awareness of ways to limit cross contamination with Salmonella at home. We have been moving on all fronts to implement this plan. FSIS is always adapting our regulatory strategies to maximize their public health benefit. For instance, while FSIS has reduced the national average of Salmonella on young chickens during the past decade, our experiences this past year with the Salmonella outbreak associated with Foster Farms poultry products reinforce the need to control this pathogen on chicken parts. A recently completed baseline survey found the national average of Salmonella on chicken parts to be approximately 24 percent. FSIS believes setting a performance standard for chicken parts will help reduce consumer exposure to Salmonella. 3

6 Although not an adulterant, Salmonella is a pathogen, and FSIS treats it as such. Frequent presence of Salmonella in a product may indicate that the production process is not adequately controlled, and in situations like this, food that is contaminated with Salmonella is adulterated. In these instances, FSIS has the authority to close an establishment for failing to produce safe food and to keep it closed until adequate control measures are in place. FSIS has exercised this approach when supported by evidence. We must work within the law and legal precedent as we deal with Salmonella, but we will not cease to be creative in combating this pathogen in order to protect the public health. We know that in order to reduce cases of foodborne illness, we must reduce the amount of Salmonella in the food supply. Modernization to Improve Food Safety One way we are attacking Salmonella is through our efforts to modernize our approach to poultry slaughter inspection. We first began inspecting poultry in Since that time, we have learned a great deal about how to detect and control pathogens. Rather than checking for quality defects, the proposal to modernize poultry slaughter allows FSIS to realign the duties of our inspectors so those on-line can focus on food safety defects, and those off-line can collect more samples and monitor establishment sanitary conditions more closely to ensure that establishments are complying with FSIS regulations. Through these activities -- rather than checking for visual defects -- we can prevent and control bacteria on poultry more effectively. This new inspection system is designed to be a critical piece of our aggressive agenda to control Salmonella in poultry. The risk assessment that we conducted based on the data from our pilot study of the new inspection system show that an inspection system that provides for increased off-line inspection activities that are directly related to food safety results in greater compliance with sanitation and HACCP regulations. In addition, these activities lead to poultry carcasses with lower levels of visible fecal contamination and equivalent or lower levels of Salmonella contamination. The risk assessment has been peer-reviewed and estimates that this new approach will prevent approximately 5,000 foodborne illnesses each year. 4

7 Targeting and Leveraging Resources In addition to Salmonella, FSIS also targets other common and dangerous pathogens, thereby reducing their prevalence in finished food products. The agency coordinates the development of its policies with other USDA agencies and other Federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as foreign governments and international organizations, to ensure a comprehensive approach to food safety. By revising current procedures and removing outdated regulatory requirements, the agency will further reduce the risk of foodborne illness by focusing FSIS inspection activities on those tasks that advance FSIS core mission of food safety. Conclusion The dedicated men and women of FSIS work every day toward a common and extremely important goal of preventing food-borne illness. We take our mission seriously and understand the importance of our roles in ensuring the safety of the nation s food supply. Thank you for your continued support and the opportunity to report on the work we do to protect public health. 5

8 For release only by the Committee on Appropriations FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE Statement of Philip Derfler, Deputy Administrator Before the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Introduction Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Farr, and Members of the Subcommittee, I am Philip Derfler, Deputy Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the status of the agency's work to ensure the safety of meat, poultry, and processed egg products and to prevent foodborne illness. Who We Are FSIS is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products, whether domestic or imported, is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. The dedicated men and women of FSIS carry out our vital mission all across the nation. At the end of fiscal year 2013, the agency employed 9,436 employees (or 9,262 FTEs), 8,004 of whom work on the front lines protecting public health at either one of the 6,427 federally regulated establishments, in-commerce facilities, or one of the three FSIS laboratories. Our scientists analyzed more than 100,000 samples in FY 2013 to ascertain the presence of pathogens in the meat, poultry, and processed egg supply. In addition, inspectors remained vigilant at 127 ports of entry and in 150,000 in-commerce facilities nationwide. We are now operating under our third Annual Performance Plan (APP) guided by the FY Strategic Plan. The APP provides the American public and FSIS employees with a clear list of Agency priorities and a detailed roadmap of the steps we intend to take this year to achieve our mission. It outlines an operational plan that we are following in order to steer the Agency as 1

9 we work to prevent foodborne illness and protect public health. It provides managers and stakeholders with a wide range of Agency actions and activities that are traceable and transparent, so that we can remain accountable to the Subcommittee and the American public. What We Do Federal Inspection of Domestic Products Our mission is unique because much of it is mandated by law. FSIS enforces the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), which require the examination and inspection of all livestock and poultry slaughtered and processed for use in human food. FSIS also enforces the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA), which requires that livestock be handled and slaughtered humanely. Livestock and poultry slaughter operations cannot operate without the presence of inspection personnel, and inspection personnel must also be present at least once-per-shift for meat and poultry processing operations. During FY 2013, FSIS personnel inspected about 148 million head of livestock and 9 billion poultry carcasses. Under the Egg Products Inspection Act, FSIS also inspects establishments that produce egg products. Egg products are primarily used as ingredients in other foods, such as prepared mayonnaise and ice cream, as well as by the food service industry, including hospitals and schools. During FY 2013, FSIS personnel inspected about 4 billion pounds of processed egg products. Federal Inspection of Imported Products FSIS also regulates all imported meat, poultry, and processed egg products intended for use as human food. Before FSIS-regulated products can enter the country, the agency determines whether the food safety regulatory system of any country that wishes to export to the U.S. is equivalent to that of the U.S. Once FSIS finds a foreign country s system for meat, poultry, or egg products to be equivalent, FSIS inspects eligible products from that country at U.S. ports-ofentry. 2

10 During FY 2013, FSIS personnel inspected approximately 3 billion pounds of meat and poultry products presented for import by 28 actively exporting foreign countries, including approximately 10 million pounds of processed egg products presented for import from Canada. The agency evaluates an exporting country s food safety system on an ongoing basis. Each year, FSIS reviews any changes in the foreign country's food safety system. In addition, FSIS may conduct an in-country audit of the system and will review the country's performance in port-ofentry inspections. Based on these reviews, the agency decides whether the country is maintaining equivalence, or whether additional agency action is warranted. This performancebased approach allows FSIS to direct its resources to foreign food regulatory systems that potentially pose a risk to public health and makes its international program more consistent with its domestic inspection system. Finally it improves the linkage between port-of-entry reinspection and on-site audits. During FY 2013, FSIS conducted on-site verification audits of 12 countries that are eligible to export meat, poultry, or processed egg products to the United States and identified no significant equivalence concerns in these countries. Cooperative State Inspection FSIS also assesses the safety of State-inspected meat and poultry products through cooperative agreements with State Departments of Agriculture. FSIS cooperates with 27 States to develop and administer State meat and poultry inspection (MPI) programs that implement food safety requirements that are "at least equal to" Federal requirements at about 1,700 establishments. These establishments can only ship or sell products within their State. FSIS completed comprehensive reviews of meat and poultry inspections programs for Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The agency also obtained self assessment reviews of the other 21 MPI programs. FSIS also cooperates with three States Ohio, North Dakota, and Wisconsin to operate a new interstate shipment program, as provided for in the 2008 Farm Bill. This approach eliminates barriers allowing small State-inspected businesses to expand their customer base and 3

11 explore new markets, by making these establishments eligible to ship meat and poultry products to different States and thereby promoting small business growth. Targeting and Leveraging Resources FSIS is instrumental in helping reduce the level of foodborne illness by targeting common and dangerous pathogens, thereby reducing their prevalence in finished food products. We will continue to improve, innovate, and modernize our approach as we coordinate the development of policies with other USDA agencies and Federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as foreign governments and international organizations to ensure an integrated farm-to-table approach to food safety. By revising current procedures and removing outdated regulatory requirements that do not help combat foodborne illness, the agency will make more efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars. We are confident that our proposed rule on poultry slaughter modernization will reduce the risk of foodborne illness by focusing FSIS inspection activities on those tasks that advance FSIS core mission of food safety. And, through our expanded Public Health Information System (PHIS), our personnel are able to rely on more powerful tools to do their job. Consumer Outreach In addition to doing everything we can to make sure that food is safe before it enters commerce and as it moves in commerce, we feel it is also our responsibility to give consumers the tools that they need to handle food safely at home. This is why in FY 2013, FSIS expanded its placement of food safety education videos at check-out monitors at several nationwide retailers, reaching nearly 72 million customers. We also doubled our FY 2012 public education targets to at-risk and vulnerable audiences. And our Cook it Safe! public service announcements registered more than 38 million impressions. To better reach consumers on their terms and ensure that our food safety messages are better received by a larger audience, FSIS also utilizes various social media avenues to broadcast key food safety messages, such as news about recalls and information on safe food handling 4

12 practices. FSIS actively disseminates food safety messages through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and YouTube. For example, Twitter account had 466,000 followers at the end of FY 2013, representing a 40 percent increase over FY We are able to reach nearly half a million followers with each tweet. More and more, we are using mobile technology to reach consumers where they are, whether they are at the grocery store, in the kitchen, or at the grill. FSIS continues to field safe food handling questions through Ask Karen. The number of views of Ask Karen answers increased from about 1.1 million in FY 2012 to approximately 2.4 million in FY Not only does the messaging reach more consumers; it requires fewer staff hours to operate than a hotline. This effort also supports the Administration s management agenda, particularly the goal of providing effective customer service by making it faster or easier to complete transactions with government. Conclusion We are continually looking at the FSIS organization and challenging ourselves to modernize the agency by taking advantage of current science and technology to create a food safety system geared for the 21 st century. Our inspection force works very hard, under difficult conditions, often for long hours and on the road away from their families. We take our mission seriously and understand the importance of our role in ensuring the safety of the nation s food supply. We are one team, with one purpose, working toward a common and extremely important goal. Thank you for the opportunity to report on the status of FSIS programs and the important work that our employees do every day to protect public health. 5