Washington Insider -- Tuesday

Congress and Poultry Inspection

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

EU Officials Remain Optimistic About Trade Agreement with U.S.

One issue that has been viewed as a possible deal breaker for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement is Europe's insistence on retaining its system of geographical indications (GIs) for more than a thousand of its food, liquor and wine products.

However, the TTIP, which holds the potential to greatly increase trade between the European Union and United States, may see a breakthrough on the issue of GIs, at least when it comes to some of the names of cheeses that EU officials want to protect. The EU and Canada recently concluded their own bilateral free trade agreement and were able to get around the GI problem by specifying that Canadian cheese makers would be permitted to use the GIs of five EU cheeses: asiago, feta, fontina, gorgonzola and munster, provided those makers were producing the cheeses prior to Oct. 18, 2013.

European negotiators believe that if their U.S. counterparts would agree to a similar approach when it comes to the TTIP, then the talks could move toward resolving disagreements in other areas. A key question will be whether the U.S. dairy and cheese making industries will go along.

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This Week's Climate Talks to Focus on Enforcement of Global Agreement

United Nations climate talks resumed yesterday in Germany with much of the discussion centering on what steps can be taken increase climate change abatement commitments from governments and the extent to which a possible 2015 global treaty will be legally binding on those governments.

This week's discussions in Bonn have the goal of preparing a text that can be adopted at a December Conference of the Parties in Lima, Peru. The aim is to arrive at a global climate pact that would be finalized by the end of 2015 and go into effect by 2020. So far, however, there has been no agreement on the details of a climate deal. In addition, a number of countries have not yet submitted their proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets for the post-2020 period.

In the United States, the politics of climate change argue against congressional acceptance of GHG reduction targets and for strong congressional opposition to legally binding GHG abatement provisions.

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Washington Insider: Congress and Poultry Inspection

You can tell when election time draws near because the tone of communications with the partisan Congress changes. Rather than its normal mode of telling the executive agencies to do more with less money, the tone shifts to "demanding answers," a belligerence that plays better in headlines.

So, it is no surprise that even the food inspection service is increasingly in the political spotlight these days. Members of Congress, the headlines say, are "demanding answers" from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on food and worker safety issues the lawmakers say were not addressed satisfactorily in a final rule to overhaul the poultry inspection system.

Fifteen lawmakers wrote recently to push for more frequent testing and to question how the things would operate under the New Poultry Inspection System — and, what the role of USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service employees will be in reporting worker safety hazards.

USDA says it is modernizing the poultry inspection system, and that changes are long overdue. Political critics say, "This rule abdicates food safety oversight from the USDA into the hands of the industry and it places workers in jeopardy."

The lawmakers also say they have concerns about the number of FSIS inspectors who will be needed under the new policies and the faster line speeds these allow as well. They also question whether USDA will be able to ensure compliance with animal welfare laws.

USDA says the modernized system will help bring poultry inspection to the 21st century by providing for a more science-based approach that focuses on "activities known to affect food safety." Until now, USDA says, the "United States has been relying on a poultry inspection model that dates back to 1957, while rates of foodborne illness due to Salmonella and Campylobacter remain stubbornly high."

In August, USDA finalized the Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection regulation. The National Poultry Inspection System (NPIS)shifts some USDA inspectors from carcass inspection to offline food safety activities like ensuring a plant's sanitation plans are followed and that required bacterial tests are completed. Company employees are used to observe carcasses for broken wings, bruises or feathers, for example, before they are presented to a USDA inspector.

The NPIS also requires a plant to conduct at least minimum prescribed microbiological testing at the pre- and post-chill points to monitor the presence of enteric pathogens and keep daily records.

Consumer advocates and others have frequently argued that the new system compromises public health, worker safety and animal welfare, but USDA and trade organizations like the National Chicken Council and the Turkey Federation counter this by noting that for the last 15 years, 20 U.S. plants have used the NPIS and shown as good or better food safety records than current inspection programs. Those pilot programs also have utilized somewhat faster line speeds.

"The modernized system frees up inspectors to do food safety activities, not quality assurance," a NCC spokesman told the press last week.

Still, advocacy groups like Food & Water Watch are suing USDA in federal court to stop it from implementing the new system, which becomes effective this week. Food and Water Watch filed for a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that the new system violates certain provisions in the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957 that requires USDA to inspect all birds slaughtered and processed for human consumption, as well as to prevent adulterated or misbranded poultry from being sold in the marketplace.

Observers say it is difficult to separate the politics from the safety facts in this type of dispute. USDA is under enormous pressure to operate a system that screens out as many health hazards as possible, while controlling costs.

Some of the politicians involved have made careers of complaining that USDA is falling down on the job and that the number of unionized experts should be increased. The advocacy agencies also have strong stakes in scary headlines about the intentions of everybody involved.

The fact also is that USDA has a pretty strong record compared to other countries and its shift to pay more attention to preventing bacterial and other health threats seems logical as well as timely. Still, one thing is sure — these are things for experts to determine, rather than either politicians or advocacy groups.

The new system has been tested for a long time. If the record shows it can do the job as well or better than the more staff-intensive old system, perhaps is it time to change — all the while keeping a close watch on the results as they are reported, Washington Insider believes.


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(GH/CZ)

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