Washington - President Clinton will propose a substantial increase of $101 million for food safety in his 1999 budget, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman says.
The $101 million hike is part of the Clinton administration's initiative to find new ways of preventing and detecting food-borne disease, but the increase is larger than many trade groups, consumer activists and food safety experts had expected.
Earlier drafts of the Clinton budget were said to include an increase of about $71 million for food safety issues, including $5 million for the Centers for Disease Control to improve detection of food-borne disease.
Glickman, speaking to scientists at the University of Washington's public health school in Seattle, said much of the money would be dedicated to research and additional food inspectors.
"For 1999, President Clinton will propose an increase of $101 million -- over and above the 1998 levels -- to continue high-priority food safety efforts from enhanced inspections to cutting-edge research and surveillance," Glickman said in the speech, copies of which were distributed in Washington.
The additional funds are intended to expand preventive safety measures, help the CDC build an "early warning system" for food disease outbreaks and develop fast, cost-effective tests for pathogens in foods, he said.
Last year, the federal budget boosted spending on overall food safety programs by $43.5 million to an overall total of just less than $750 million.
After his speech, Glickman told reporters in Seattle that the proposed $101 million increase also included a hike in the Food and Drug Administration's budget for inspecting imported fruits and vegetables.
The USDA, FDA and CDC are among a dozen federal agencies that share responsibility for protecting the nation's food supply.
On Monday, Clinton is scheduled to release his proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in October.
In Washington, Democratic congressional sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said the budget proposal would include $25 million to $29 million for additional food safety inspectors, mostly at the FDA.
Food safety concerns became more prominent last year after the record recall of some 25 million pounds of tainted ground beef and several smaller outbreaks of food disease including schoolchildren sickened by frozen strawberries imported from Mexico.
Press for Information on Placing Your Ad Here
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
Web Site: http://www.spcnetwork.com/mii