Kevin Roberts: “I rise in opposition to the resolution of disapproval of the Department of Agriculture's catfish inspection program on…”

“I rise in opposition to the resolution of disapproval of the Department of Agriculture's catfish inspection program on several grounds. This has become a rather heated issue. I think there are some issues we need to clear up, especially speaking from the privilege of being the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture. The amendment seeks to make changes to food safety inspection by eliminating the Department of Agriculture's inspection program of domestic and foreign-raised catfish. This program just started in March. Some of the comments about the expense of this program have been made as if they were on an annual basis. Most of the costs that were cited in the General Accounting Office report did not mention the fact that these were startup costs. The program was created due to concerns related to food safety. The USDA has a very strong record of requiring meat that is imported to the United States to be processed in foreign facilities that are ``equivalent'' to U.S. meat processing facilities. The Department of Agriculture visits these facilities and conducts audits to ensure that their practices are in line with what we require in the United States. This is done to ensure that food coming into the United States is safe. That product is also inspected once it arrives at U.S. ports of entry.…”