Testimony of
Richard V. Cano
Acting Director
Seafood Inspection
Program
National Marine
Fisheries Service
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
Oversight Hearing
on the Federal Food Inspection Programs
Subcommittee on
the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization
Committee on
Government Reform
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to speak on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Oversight of Food Safety Activities. I am Richard Cano, Acting Director of the Seafood Inspection Program at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). My testimony today will provide a brief description of the Seafood Inspection Program and comment on the GAO report (GAO-05-213).
NOAA oversees
fisheries management in the
Our inspections,
both in the
In 1974, NOAA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health and Human Services recognizing our agencies’ related responsibilities. This agreement is designed to outline a working relationship in the public interest to enable “each agency to discharge as effectively as possible, its responsibilities related to the inspection and standardization activities for fishery products.” In general, this agreement outlines requirements regarding adulterated or misbranded products, how best to maximize resources, and the need for effective communication between the agencies.
The most notable accomplishment under this agreement has been in the area of training. NOAA Inspection staff has benefited from FDA’s willingness to provide access to their online training modules. Since January 2003, NOAA personnel have completed approximately 8,900 (combined employee total) of the FDA online courses. In addition, most NOAA workshops on sensory evaluation of fishery products are jointly instructed by both NOAA and FDA personnel, and NOAA provides an instructor to assist FDA in its retail training courses. However, both the FDA and NOAA believe this agreement, which is now more than 30 years old, needs to be assessed in light of changing roles and responsibilities, and we have been in discussions with the FDA on this.
NOAA is involved
with several other food safety projects including a National Academies of
Science study entitled, “Nutrient Relationships in Seafood: Selections to
Balance Benefits and Risks.” This study will provide useful information for the
development of public health policy on contaminants in seafood. We also work with other federal agencies on
many projects beyond what I outlined above. For example, we jointly sponsor the
National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Standards for Foods with the
USDA and the FDA. In addition, NOAA and FDA both support the executive office
of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference, which is the
standards-setting body for a Federal/state cooperative program to ensure the
safety of raw molluscan shellfish.
Both industry and
other agencies use the NOAA Seafood Inspection Program to ensure that fishery
products comply with regulatory requirements (both domestic and foreign),
purchasing specifications, and consumer expectations.
As the GAO report outlined, several agencies are involved in food safety oversight. In general, we believe the report does a fair and thorough job of describing the major food safety activities at NOAA.
As the GAO report outlines, in FY 2003, of the $1.7 billion spent on food safety–related activities, NOAA spent just under $22 million—only approximately 1 percent of the total expenditure.
The GAO report made several recommendations, and I will focus on those directly relevant to NOAA. As I mentioned earlier, the FDA and NOAA have an interagency agreement. We agree with the GAO recommendation for FDA and NOAA to ensure the implementation of this agreement and we will continue to work with the appropriate components of the FDA in order to do this.
In addition, the report recommends that the leaders of each of the agencies discussed in the report identify and inventory all active interagency food safety–related agreements; evaluate the need for these agreements; and, where necessary, update the agreements to reflect recent legislative changes, technological advances, and current needs. We agree with this recommendation and will establish an inventory of active interagency food safety–related agreements on which NOAA is a signatory. In addition, NOAA will contact the applicable agencies associated with food safety–related agreements whenever NOAA believes an agreement should be revised.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to speak about our Seafood Inspection Program and the recommendations in the GAO report. I would be happy to answer any questions you have.