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Records Show More Access to Federal Food Officials

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

The Obama Administration's top food safety officials appear to be meeting more often with people outside the federal government than they did earlier in their tenure.
The Food Safety News analysis of the public calendars of top officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) cannot be definitive.  However, it seems clear there has been a trend toward more meetings with people outside the agencies.
In the second half of the year, Commissioner Margaret Hamburg traveled to China, England, and Germany.
She went to Berlin to speak to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Sept. 27 and to London to speak the Royal Society of Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences, and Summit of the Heads of Medicines Agency, all on Oct. 13.
The FDA Commissioner did some specific food safety business during her August trip to China.   Her delegation met in Beijing with an official of China's Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine, named Pu Changcheng. 
Hamburg's group also met with Chinese state FDA official Shao Mingli in Beijing, and the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau's Xu Jinji in Shanghai.
Back from China, Hamburg scheduled a "site visit and meeting regarding food safety" in Salinas, CA with U.S. Rep. Sam Farr on Sept. 3.
According to Farr's office, the California Democrat took the Commissioner to Santa Paz Farms to see strawberry harvesting techniques, including technologies and practices to ensure food safety.  
At FDA, most meetings with outsiders about food safety involve Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods.
Some of the highlights of his schedule have included:
-- an Aug. 4 food safety meeting with four representatives of the National Environmental Health Association.
-- an Aug 6 teleconference with Kellogg Co. officials.
-- an Aug. 10 meeting on front of packaging labeling with a Grocery Manufacturing Association delegation.
-- an Oct 15 meeting with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
--  a Sept. 2 Gulf seafood safety meeting with representatives of Food & Water Watch, Consumers Union, Center for Science in Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, and National Consumer League.
FDA's calendars for its top public official are current through Oct. 29.  At FSIS, the most recent calendars are through July 31.  In the two most recent months available, for June and July 2010, FSIS officials do not show any records of foreign travel and most meetings were held in Washington D.C.
Jerold R. Mande, Under Secretary for Food Safety, has taken to holding separate monthly meetings with industry and consumer representatives.  Who is involved in those groups is not disclosed.
Other food safety meetings Mande reported included:
-- a June 10 with Partnership for Food Safety Education representatives.
-- a June 17 with the Ad Council's Kate Emmanuel about food safety.
-- a June 29 & 30-with Ad Council Executive Committee to present campaign proposal.
-- a July 19 with representatives of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation and Consumer Federation of America.
FSIS Administrator Al Almanza met with representatives of the National Turkey Federation on two food safety subjects, Salmonella and labeling, on June 3.
Almanza also met on June 10 with Dale Moore, himself a former top Ag official both on the Hill and at USDA, about food safety.   Moore is now a registered lobbyist working for Policy Directions Inc., which has a long list of clients with both FDA and FSIS concerns.
The FSIS head also met with Steve Pretanik from the National Chicken Council about food safety on June 21 and with Ann Wells from the North American Meat Processors Association on June 22 about validation policies for E. coli O157:H7.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on November 10, 2010 (boomark / email).