Letter to USDA with Appendices

May 4, 2007


Dr. David Goldman, Acting Administrator
Food Safety and Inspection Service
United States Department of Agriculture
Room 331-E, Jamie L. Whitten Building
12th Street and Jefferson Drive SW
Washington, DC 20250

Transmitted via facsimile: (202) 205-0158

Dear Dr. Goldman:

I am writing to ascertain why the Food Safety and Inspection Service failed to initiate recalls of pork and poultry products that were produced from animals that ate feed adulterated with melamine.

It has been very troubling to us that officials from both FSIS and the Food and Drug Administration have used tortured and contradictory logic to explain why product recalls were not announced. I call your attention to the transcripts of both the April 26 and May 1 press briefings at which FSIS and FDA officials participated. I have attached pertinent excerpts as points of reference (Appendices A and B).

It is clear to us that recalls should have been issued in both of these cases. The fact that Dr. Petersen stated in the April 26 press briefing (see Appendix A) that animals presented for slaughter that are suspected of eating adulterated feed would not receive the USDA mark of inspection indicates to us that FSIS considers pork and poultry processed from animals that have consumed that feed to be adulterated. If the agency will not accept animals prospectively for slaughter that were fed contaminated feed because it considers the meat and poultry products processed from those animals to be adulterated, then why is the meat and poultry from animals that were fed the contaminated feed already in the marketplace not considered to be adulterated? We believe that you have a statutory obligation to initiate recalls of these products under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act.

As Food & Water Watch has already pointed out to you in an email on May 2, 2007, the course of action by FSIS in this situation contradicts the approach the agency took with beef processed in December 2003 from a cow that was eventually diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease).

I call your attention to an interview that took place with USDA officials on December 29, 2003 on CNN (Appendix C). Again, Dr. Kenneth Petersen served as the FSIS spokesperson on that occurrence. Eerily, Dr. Petersen’s comments about the safety of the beef that went into commerce in 2003 sound almost identical to what he has said recently about the safety of the melamine-contaminated pork and poultry.

In 2003, the agency – out of abundance of caution – recalled the potentially contaminated beef. In 2007, however, the agency has refused to take similar action in the current case of adulterated product entering into commerce. Instead, we have heard weak justifications that since humans do not eat chicken and pork morning, noon and night, they won’t be exposed to high enough levels of melamine to necessitate a recall (Appendix B). The standard for taking adulterated food off the market should not be its popularity or how much of it consumers eat. The agency is obligated to act to get all adulterated food off the market, not just adulterated food eaten in large enough quantities to meet some theoretical calculation of risk.

These same weak arguments were repeated during the May 3 teleconference.

In all of the press briefings conducted thus far, we have not heard either FDA or FSIS officials state whether there are established tolerance levels for the amount of melamine to be in meat or poultry before it can considered safe for human consumption, nor have we heard whether either agency has the ability to test for the melamine residue in meat and poultry.

We request your answers to the following questions regarding the current situation with the adulterated pork and chicken:

1. Why has the agency not used the “out of abundance of caution” standard to institute product recalls of the adulterated pork and poultry involved in the current situation?
2. It has come to light that USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond was visiting officials of Tyson Foods at company headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas on April 26, 2007 – the same day that FSIS and FDA were holding their first joint press briefing on the adulterated animal feed issue. On April 26, it was revealed that some 200 hogs fed melamine-contaminated feed were slaughtered and processed at the company’s Madison, Nebraska plant. That meat entered the human food supply. Was a recall of those products ever discussed with company officials during Dr. Raymond’s visit? If a recall was discussed, what are the details of those discussions? Did Tyson officials refuse to institute a recall of their adulterated products?
3. Which company or companies processed the adulterated poultry that went into commerce? Were recalls discussed with those companies? If so, what were the details of those discussions? Did those companies refuse to institute recalls of their adulterated products?
4. Has the FSIS recall committee been convened to discuss initiating recalls of product that has been adulterated in these two instances? If the committee has met, what justifications did the committee use not to proceed with recalls at this time?
5. What specific instructions have been issued to FSIS inspection personnel to address actions that they should take in the event that animals are presented for slaughter that are suspected of eating adulterated feed?

Dr. Goldman, if FSIS truly wants to become a public health agency, it must do so by putting the public’s health above industry profits. The inaction of the agency in the current situation is very disturbing. While the gaping holes in the inspection procedures at the FDA have been the primary cause for animals destined for the human food supply being fed adulterated feed, FSIS has done nothing to protect the public against adulterated food from entering the human food supply. You have clear statutory authority to take action to get this product off the market, whether by recommending a recall or seizing the product. The manner in which the agency has acted thus far is nothing short of scandalous.

I look forward to your reply. Should you have any questions about this letter, please feel free to contact me at (202) 797-6550.


Sincerely,


Wenonah Hauter
Executive Director

cc: Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Saxby Chambliss
Senator Herb Kohl
Senator Robert Bennett
Representative Collin Peterson
Representative Robert Goodlatte
Representative Rosa DeLauro
Representative Jack Kingston
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns
Under Secretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond
USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong