Senate Minority Leader Daschle and Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., today introduced a bill to implement country-of-origin labeling of meat products by the Sept. 30, 2004 deadline contained in the 2002 farm bill rather than the 2006 deadline Congress passed last year. "I'm extraordinarily concerned by the news that American consumers have been unknowingly exposed to Canadian beef products," Daschle said. "We simply must not allow large meatpackers and the Bush administration to block consumer access to this basic information." Johnson said, ""I am outraged to learn that American consumers were mislead by USDA. Allowing beef into the U.S. during the ban threatens to rock consumer confidence. It's time for answers from USDA."
Capitol Hill today scrambled to respond to a Washington Post story confirming that the Agriculture Department permitted the importation of 33 million pounds of Canadian ground beef products for six months after Agriculture Secretary Veneman had said Canadian ground beef was banned due to the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada. The imports came to light in April when R-CALF USA, a cattle group, sued the USDA in federal court for not following the proper rules in a plan to formally allow the importation of Canadian ground beef. A USDA attorney told the court that the agency was already allowing the ground meat to be imported under permits that remained secret. The USDA agreed to stop the imports and not change the rules except through a formal process.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., told reporters today that Veneman "took an unacceptable risk with consumer confidence. To say you are importing boxed beef and to secretly import another product is a violation of her responsibility to the American public." USDA assistant secretary for congressional affairs Mary Waters told reporters that Food Safety and Inspection Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service officials would brief Congress today, but downplayed the importance of the event, saying it had been previously scheduled. USDA chief economist Keith Collins later told reporters that "The meat was safe; the issue was the permits." But R-CALF USA executive director Bill Bullard said in a telephone interview from Montana that Collins's statement was "completely without any scientific basis." Bullard said the reason the USDA did not contest R-CALF's complaint was "there has been no scientific justification for assuming the greater risk they have assumed."
Source:
Title: S.D. Senators Offer Bill To Speed Up Beef Origin Labeling.
Authors: Hagstrom, Jerry
Source: CongressDaily; 5/20/2004, p7, 2p
Capitol Hill today scrambled to respond to a Washington Post story confirming that the Agriculture Department permitted the importation of 33 million pounds of Canadian ground beef products for six months after Agriculture Secretary Veneman had said Canadian ground beef was banned due to the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada. The imports came to light in April when R-CALF USA, a cattle group, sued the USDA in federal court for not following the proper rules in a plan to formally allow the importation of Canadian ground beef. A USDA attorney told the court that the agency was already allowing the ground meat to be imported under permits that remained secret. The USDA agreed to stop the imports and not change the rules except through a formal process.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., told reporters today that Veneman "took an unacceptable risk with consumer confidence. To say you are importing boxed beef and to secretly import another product is a violation of her responsibility to the American public." USDA assistant secretary for congressional affairs Mary Waters told reporters that Food Safety and Inspection Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service officials would brief Congress today, but downplayed the importance of the event, saying it had been previously scheduled. USDA chief economist Keith Collins later told reporters that "The meat was safe; the issue was the permits." But R-CALF USA executive director Bill Bullard said in a telephone interview from Montana that Collins's statement was "completely without any scientific basis." Bullard said the reason the USDA did not contest R-CALF's complaint was "there has been no scientific justification for assuming the greater risk they have assumed."
Source:
Title: S.D. Senators Offer Bill To Speed Up Beef Origin Labeling.
Authors: Hagstrom, Jerry
Source: CongressDaily; 5/20/2004, p7, 2p
