nerable to seafood-related illness and cannot be certain about the 

 safety of the seafood they wish to purchase in a market or restau- 

 rant. It worries the seafood industry because every time there is a 

 report of illness they face a potential loss of business and signifi- 

 cant economic hardship. 



Several years ago Congress took some definitive actions to try to 

 address this problem. The result was an increase in funding of 

 about 60 percent for the FDA seafood program. This was good and 

 it was proper, but it did not alone solve our problem. We still hear 

 that the government has not done enough, and that is true. Con- 

 sumers still ask why the government seems only to be reactive, and 

 that is a good question. We are being told, and I agree, that the 

 government needs to promote safety and prevent harm. We have 

 considered omnibus legislation. Many in the consumer community 

 and in the business community support such a legislative approach. 



While we have done this before, and I am ready, willing and able 

 to do so again, the program that we bring forward legislatively 

 must be, in fact, strong, workable, comprehensive. I am pleased 

 that while the Congress has continued to grapple with the issue, 

 NOAA in consultation with FDA has developed a voluntary inspec- 

 tion and labeling program based on the Hazardous Analysis Criti- 

 cal Control Point, or HACCP, approach. This program will go a 

 long way toward assuring consumers because of the NOAA seal on 

 the product which will indicate the high quality required by the 

 NOAA program. However, a voluntary program can only be a par- 

 tial solution if we want tough mandatory standards that all prod- 

 ucts must meet. That is what consumers want for seafood and that 

 is what I believe this Committee also wants. 



I was, therefore, pleased when FDA Commissioner Kessler an- 

 nounced in March that FDA would soon propose regulations to es- 

 tablish a mandatory HACCP-based seafood inspection program. Ac- 

 cording to Dr. Kessler, that program will be designed to be preven- 

 tive and to assure safety virtually from water to table. I am told 

 that regulations to implement this preventive program will soon be 

 proposed. They will reflect the knowledge gained by FDA and 

 NOAA in pilot studies the two agencies conducted in developing 

 the NOAA voluntary HACCP program. These rules will be ground- 

 ed in the HACCP approach. I am anxious to review the proposal of 

 FDA, and I think, like this Committee, we share two goals. 



First, to see to it that the elements of FDA's proposal are consist- 

 ent with the goals of our committees. Our two committees have 

 worked well together, as you very well know, regarding assuring 

 the safety of seafood and the development of strong, measurable, 

 and enforceable standards and a regular evaluation and inspection 

 program to assess the effect of the standards and the extent to 

 which they are being met. 



Second, we need to make certain that FDA has the wherewithal 

 to implement a strong and effective program. We will look at 

 FDA's proposal with an eye toward ensuring that current law pro- 

 vides sufficient authority for FDA to carry out the program effec- 

 tively from inspection through to enforcement. Further, I believe 

 that we need to look at the proposal to assess whether FDA cur- 

 rently has the resources it needs to implement the program. I 

 would observe that our Committee's ongoing scrutiny, as you are 



