FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Adriana Surfas
Friday, April 11, 2008
(202)
225-3661
DeLauro
Fights for Consumer Access to
Stores
Receiving Recalled Food Products
“During
the historic Westland/Hallmark recall of 143 million pounds of beef, consumers
were denied important information about which stores or schools received the
recalled products. Instead, consumers were forced to rely on sporadic
media reports, which were not comprehensive and resulted in additional
confusion. When a food safety recall occurs, consumers should be able to
know which stores or schools received the potentially contaminated products so
that they can better protect their families, and this bill would accomplish just
that.
“By
refusing to make this information public, the Administration is demonstrating
their lack of interest in protecting consumers from potentially harmful foods.
To make matters worse, USDA has proposed a rule that would make this information
available only for the recalls that pose the highest risk, which means it would
not have applied to the Westland/Hallmark recall. That is inexcusable.
Transparency is absolutely critical during any food safety recall.”
Since
March of 2006 USDA has had a proposed rule pending that would permit the agency
to list retail consignees on its recall press releases. Following the
historic Hallmark/Westland recall of 143 million pounds of beef, DeLauro had
repeatedly pressed USDA and the Office of Management and Budget to release this
information, as well as allow the rule to move forward (to view the February 21,
2008 letter to USDA click
here, to view the March 12, 2008 letter to OMB click
here, to view DeLauro’s statement when USDA testified before the
Agriculture – FDA Appropriations Subcommittee, which she chairs, click
here, and to view the March 17, 2008 letters to USDA and OMB click
here).
Specifically,
the Food Safety Recall
Information Act would:
·
Require USDA to list all retail stores and school
districts that received meat products subjected to voluntary recall, regardless
of class of recall.
·
Require companies that recall any USDA-regulated
food product to provide a list of retail stores and school districts that
received the product.
·
Require USDA to update this list continuously as the
information is received, whether by the company doing the recall, or
notification from the entity receiving the product.
·
Eliminate the loophole that allows downer cattle to
be slaughtered for the food supply.
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