Safer food supply

Mainers don’t need to be told about the possiblity of eating unsafe food, but they do need assurances that swift, effective action can be taken when contaminated food makes its way to the market place. Legislation by Rep. John Baldacci would give the secretary of agriculture greater powers to act decisively to remove food in these emergencies. It deserves support.

The recent death of a Washington County woman from E. Coli-contaminated ground beef should be warning enough to anyone to properly handle and thoroughly cook meat. Better still, though, is to keep the unsafe meat away from the public. That is part of the White House’s Food Safety Initiative and is contained in the Baldacci legislation.

The Food Safety Initiative, announced last year, expands the warning system for food-borne illnesses, hires more food inspectors, teaches people how to safely handle food and includes the Food Safety Enforcement Act — sponsored in the House by Rep. Baldacci, a member of the Agriculture Committee, and in the Senate by Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. The enforcement bill gives the Department of Agriculture the authority to assess civil fines and order manadatory recalls of unsafe meat and poultry products. According to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, the department currently can respond only to food safety violations by bringing criminal actions or withrawing inspections — recalls are voluntary.

The problem of safety isn’t only with meat products of course — other foods can be contaminated, too — and most packing houses go to great lengths to provide a safe product. But produce already can be removed by either the USDA or the Food and Drug Administration, depending on circumstances. Even though food distribution has gone from regional to national, so that it is ever more difficult to find the source of the contamination, Agriculture’s authority has not been expanded to adopt to the change. Voluntary recalls by packing plants can take weeks when every hour counts.

With Rep. Baldacci’s bill, Sen. Susan Collins holding hearings on the safety of imported fruits and vegetables and Sen. Olympia Snowe recently investigating the condition of Chilean salmon imported to the United States, Maine’s delegation has a healthy portion of the major food groups covered. Their concern is warranted. Particularly at a time of increasing international trade, the nation should be upgrading and expanding its oversight of the food supply.

Rep. Baldacci’s bill is an important addition to the overhaul.