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| Administrator's Welcoming Remarks |
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Remarks prepared for delivery by FSIS Administrator, Alfred V. Almanza at FSIS' public meeting, "Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli:
Addressing the Challenges, Moving Forward With Solutions," in Washington, DC on April 9, 2008.
Thank you, and welcome to springtime in Washington — with Cherry Blossoms and a healthy discussion on E. coli O157:H7,
all rolled up in one convenient package for you.
But, seriously I welcome you to what I'm sure will be a very constructive meeting over the next day and a half.
The title of this meeting, Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli: Addressing the Challenges, Moving Forward With Solutions, certainly is
a mouthful to say. However by title alone, it conveys that we have quite a bit of meaningful and dynamic topics to discuss.
And because of this content, this meeting has surely generated a significant amount of interest — as you can no doubt tell from this room
being maxed out with its seating capacity. So, try and keep yourselves as comfortable as you possibly can.
On behalf of the agency, I want to express my sincere appreciation to the folks who've arranged this meeting in short order and to
our partners from outside FSIS who agreed to present and discuss vital information that will help us all achieve our ultimate objective —
improve food safety and enhance public health protection.
The fact that we have such a well attended meeting attests to your strong devotion and commitment in making our food supply the safest it can be,
and to the impact FSIS has on the lives of almost every citizen, every day in America.
FSIS is accountable for protecting the lives and well-being of approximately 300 million U.S. citizens and millions more around the world.
Our agency's 9,500 employees include approximately 7,800 inspection program personnel, who are assigned to approximately 6,200 federal slaughter,
food processing and import establishment every day.
And since our workforce plays an integral part in serving the needs of millions, I'm very pleased to acknowledge we have representatives from
three employee-focused groups here to take note and weigh in on any initiatives discussed at this meeting that will affect their daily livelihoods.
- Stan Painter, from the National Joint Council, traveled up from Alabama to join us.
- Luis Zamora, from the Association of Technical and Supervisory Professionals, came down from Philadelphia to be here.
- And Keith Reynolds, from the National Association of Federal Veterinarians, traveled across the country from Kansas to participate.
I'd like to thank each of your for being here and any other folks from your respective organizations. We certainly value your many contributions
to this Agency's policies and day-to-day operations.
This meeting is one of 11 key initiatives that FSIS announced last autumn to protect public health against the risk of E. coli O157:H7 —
initiatives ranging from the testing and analysis of trim; testing more domestic and imported ground beef components; working with small and very
small plants; and working with our many partners.
These initiatives demonstrate FSIS' holistic approach to addressing problems and coming up with timely solutions to deal with them — all with
the end goal of improving food safety.
But this can't be done without your support and ideas. And we certainly welcome any new ideas put forth on the table that will help us achieve
our common mission of protecting public health.
As always, FSIS is committed to transparency and I look forward to this meeting serving as an important mechanism to enable that. Thank you
again for your attendance.
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Last Modified:
April 11, 2008 |
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