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CNN Live At Daybreak

FDA Urging Farmers and Suppliers to Do Some New Things to Make Sure Food You Eat is Safe

Aired January 10, 2002 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Food and Drug Administration is urging farmers and suppliers to do some new things to make sure the food you eat is safe. As CNN's Casey Wian explains, there are now hundreds more FDA food inspectors on the job, guarding against a terrorist attack on the nation's food supply.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Farmers, food processors and retailers all say the United States' food supply is the world's safest, but it's not safe enough to stop a terrorist from contaminating at least some of what Americans eat. So the Food and Drug Administration is issuing a sweeping set of voluntary guidelines to encourage food safety from the farm to the fork.

JOE LEVITT, FDA FOOD SAFETY DIRECTOR: In light of September 11, we have to take one more step. We have to increase our vigilance and look at that system through a new lens, through the lens of possible intentional contamination of food. And that's what these guidelines are to do.

WIAN: Guidelines include criminal background checks for job applicants, watching for employees who linger after their shift and installing fences, surveillance equipment and other security devices at farms and restaurants. In all, more than 100 recommendations developed with the help of the food industry, but without the usual input from the public. The FDA and the food industry dispute claims by some consumer advocates that the voluntary guidelines will be ineffective.

RHONDA APPLEBAUM, NATIONAL FOOD SAFETY ASSOCIATION: Knowing what you need to do is much better than giving a command and control requirement in terms of you must have this. The companies vary. There's a variety of company sizes, a variety of company resources out there, and we leave it up to the companies then to determine how they're going to get from Point A to Point B.

WIAN: The food industry says it's too early to determine the costs of complying with the FDA guidelines. Food producers, importers and sellers say insuring food safety is in their own interests.

JOE MILLER, AMERICAN FARM BUREAU: We do think the industry itself does want to take care of a lot of these problems, so I think suggested guidelines with voluntary enforcement would actually be fairly safe.

WIAN: But fairly safe may not be enough to prevent terrorist attacks on the food supplies, and Congress has appropriated money for an additional 600 FDA food inspectors.

Casey Wian, CNN Financial News, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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