HHS SECRETARY

MICHAEL O. LEAVITT ON

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GMA FORUM: As FDA notes, the Agency has oversight of more than 136,000 registered domestic food facilities; there are some 189,000 registered foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food consumed by Americans. On a scale of one to 10, where, on average, would you rank these, in terms of their food safety/security performance to date? What do you think is realistically possible to achieve?

HHS SEC. MIKE LEAVITT: Without knowing what each point on the scale truly represents, I’m not going to try to hazard an exact number. But I will say that I have recently visited a number of countries, including China and India, and saw efforts underway to ensure that food exported to the United States meets American quality standards.

As you know, in December we signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the People’s Republic of China. That agreement calls for new registration and certification requirements for a variety of Chinese foods, greater information sharing, and increased HHS/FDA access to Chinese production facilities. We are now implementing that agreement.

While I was there, my Chinese hosts reviewed with me the plans they have made to ensure food safety at the Olympic Games — which made me think back to when I was governor of Utah during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Holding such an event certainly is a massive undertaking, but their plan is extraordinarily detailed and well-

coordinated. They have developed a tracking system that is incredibly elaborate. It includes GPS tracking of every food truck, traceability of ingredients, and an incident-reporting system.

Such examples bode well for improving product safety into the future. And it is important that we are seeing these changes for the better, because I believe that while we have a good product safety system, it won’t be good enough for tomorrow.

GMA FORUM: Going forward, how will the Agency determine ‘risk,’ as far as inspection is concerned? What will be your priorities? Why?

HHS SEC. MIKE LEAVITT: In November, we presented
President Bush with an Action Plan for Import Safety
to beef up our protections. Among other things, our
recommendations included greater use of private-sector
certification and increased overseas presence. In the past,
our strategy has been to stand at the border and catch
things as they come into the country. Now, we need to
roll back the borders and build safety into every product
at every step of the supply chain. We will also need to
develop transparent, interoperable systems that tell us
who does and who doesn’t produce goods that are safe
and effective. The role of government is to support — not
dictate — that system.

Many private-sector industries are already taking the