Tom Harkin: “Thank you. Mr. President, let's go back to where we were a few hours ago when I first offered an amendment this morning.…”

“Thank you. Mr. President, let's go back to where we were a few hours ago when I first offered an amendment this morning. That amendment would state clearly that the Department of Agriculture--the Secretary of Agriculture--had the authority to set standards for pathogen reduction in meat and poultry inspection. Again, the amendment was carefully drafted not to set the standard. That should not be our business. The reason for the amendment was precipitated by a court case in Texas in May in which a Federal district court judge found that the Department of Agriculture--the Secretary of Agriculture--lacked the statutory authority to set and enforce pathogen reductions in meat and poultry inspection. When the Department established its new inspection rules in 1996, the USDA adopted a new food safety system based on hazard analysis, critical control points, and pathogen reduction standards, otherwise known now as HACCP. The system was designed to protect human health by reducing the levels of bacteria contamination in meat and poultry products. It has been in existence now for 4 years. What then happened was we had this plant in Texas, Supreme Beef. Three times they were warned by the inspectors that they were not meeting the salmonella reduction standards. Three times they failed. It is not that they weren't warned adequately; they were.…”