USDA proposes poultry imports from China
Picayune Item
January 28, 2006
Mississippi, US
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Agriculture Department is seeking to allow shipments of poultry processed in China, where thousands of birds and several people have died from bird flu.
The United States does not accept live poultry imports from countries where the virulent bird flu strain is present, and it still would not under the proposed policy.
Instead, the department would allow China to process poultry slaughtered in the U.S. or other countries from which the U.S. accepts poultry.
Critics are urging the department to drop the proposal, fearing how it might affect consumers' perception of how safe it is to eat chicken.
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said Friday the U.S. can't afford to take chances. He acknowledged there are safeguards in the plan but said the department has a poor record on inspections.
“We know that USDA's foreign food inspections have had problems in the past, and with so many unanswered questions, it is not wise to allow processed poultry imports from China at this time,” said Harkin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
“I am concerned the administration is neglecting the substantial public health and economic risks to the United States, which USDA itself acknowledges but fails to address,” he said.
The industry did not ask for the proposal, National Chicken Council spokesman Richard Lobb said. Chicken companies recently launched tests of every flock in the nation to reassure people that chicken is safe to eat.
“The timing is a mystery to us. We did not seek this rule. We're not objecting to it, but we didn't support it, either,” Lobb said.
Under the government proposal, the poultry would have to be fully cooked in China and packaged or canned for shipment to the United States.
The Agriculture Department proposed the rule, with no announcement, on Nov. 23. The period during which it accepted comments on the proposal ended Monday. The rule still must be finalized before it takes effect.
The department acted on a request from China, spokesman Steven Cohen said. The department “takes the issue of food safety extremely seriously,” he said. “We would not have proposed this rule without having the scientific basis to be able to guarantee the safety of the product.”
Officials are reviewing the comments and have no timeline for finalizing the rule, he said.
On the Net:
U.S. Department of Agriculture: http://www.usda.gov