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Response from Senator Harry Reid
- 12-22-2008
- Categorized in: Pet Food News
Dear Ms. :
Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you.
I share your concerns about safety regulations for pet food. As you know, imported pet food ingredients from China were tainted with an industrial chemical used for plastic production. The death of pets from the contaminated pet food has been confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and led to a recall of pet food that might contain the chemical. In March of 2007, Menu Foods, Inc. initiated the voluntarily recall of dog and cat food after learning of complaints of vomiting and renal failure in dogs and cats following their consumption of product produced between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. As a result of these recalls, I supported a decision by the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee to hold an oversight hearing on April 12, 2007, to consider regulations governing the pet food industry. Please be assured that I will do my best to support legislation that prevents such occurrences from happening again.
There are several bills containing provisions addressing some aspect of food import safety, with several focusing almost exclusively on this issue. Many of these bills (including H.R. 2997, S. 1776, H.R. 1148/S. 654, and H.R. 2108/S. 1274) propose that importing establishments, and/or the foreign countries in which they are located, first receive formal certification from U.S. authorities that their food safety systems demonstrably provide at least the same level of safety assurances as the U.S. system. Under some of these bills, certification could be denied or revoked if foreign safeguards are found to be insufficient, unsafe imports are discovered, or food-borne illnesses are linked to such products. I will be certain to monitor the progress of these important pieces of legislation on your behalf.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. For more information about my work for Nevada, my role in the United States Senate Leadership, or to subscribe to regular e-mail updates on the issues that interest you, please visit my Web site at http://reid.senate.gov. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
My best wishes to you.
Sincerely,
HARRY REID
United States Senator
Nevada
Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you.
I share your concerns about safety regulations for pet food. As you know, imported pet food ingredients from China were tainted with an industrial chemical used for plastic production. The death of pets from the contaminated pet food has been confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and led to a recall of pet food that might contain the chemical. In March of 2007, Menu Foods, Inc. initiated the voluntarily recall of dog and cat food after learning of complaints of vomiting and renal failure in dogs and cats following their consumption of product produced between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. As a result of these recalls, I supported a decision by the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee to hold an oversight hearing on April 12, 2007, to consider regulations governing the pet food industry. Please be assured that I will do my best to support legislation that prevents such occurrences from happening again.
There are several bills containing provisions addressing some aspect of food import safety, with several focusing almost exclusively on this issue. Many of these bills (including H.R. 2997, S. 1776, H.R. 1148/S. 654, and H.R. 2108/S. 1274) propose that importing establishments, and/or the foreign countries in which they are located, first receive formal certification from U.S. authorities that their food safety systems demonstrably provide at least the same level of safety assurances as the U.S. system. Under some of these bills, certification could be denied or revoked if foreign safeguards are found to be insufficient, unsafe imports are discovered, or food-borne illnesses are linked to such products. I will be certain to monitor the progress of these important pieces of legislation on your behalf.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. For more information about my work for Nevada, my role in the United States Senate Leadership, or to subscribe to regular e-mail updates on the issues that interest you, please visit my Web site at http://reid.senate.gov. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
My best wishes to you.
Sincerely,
HARRY REID
United States Senator
Nevada
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