North American Markets

00:07:25 Lunch: Members of Make Our Food Safe delivered free lunch to Senators George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown today. V; Make Our Food Safe lunches. I; Randy Napier, Make Our Food Safe Campaign, talks about the lack of power that the Food and Drug Administration has to make food safe. 00:08:28

[CC] 00:08:17 September is National Food Safety Month, and today a local organization visited Senator Richard Burr's office to highlight the need for better food safety measures. Members of the "Make Our Food Safe" campaign delivered lunch bags to the senator's office, which included information about the prevelance of food-borne illnesses. It's a problem that touched this family personally. " Both of us almost died." The organization wants Congress to give the FDA the authority to more strictly regulate the nation's food supply, including giving the agency the right to mandate food recalls. 00:11:17

[CC] 00:36:43 One way to reduce the need for healthcare is to keep people from getting sick in the first place. Senator Tom Harkin told a Des Moines crowd today that he wants to do that by increasing food safety. Harkin is one of several federal officials fighting for changes in the way food is processed. Earlier this year he chaired a hearing on food safety after a massive peanut butter recall. Harkin says he wants the FDA And USDA to strengthen safety procedures --Including more testing, better tracking and faster response to outbreaks. "As I observed before, I said many times fod safety is a patchwork system is giving too much credit to it. Food safety in this country is hit or mis gamble. Parents are rolling the dice when it cmoes to their kids' food." Reports show 325,000 Americans get sick because of comtaminated food each year. 00:39:43

[CC] 00:05:40 Senator Tom Harkin wants to prevent Iowans fm getting sick by increasing food safety. Harkin is one of several federal officials fighting for changes in the way food is processed. Earlier this year, he chaired a hearing on food safety following a massive peanut butter recall. Today, he was at Drake University talking about food safety. He says he's working with the FDA and USDA to strengthen safety procedures. Changes to the law could mean more inspections for processors, but that would cost more money. "What the fees are going to be is still open; we don't know. But there may be some fees that would be placed on processors or producers to help pay for an inspection system that would be more preventative in nature. What those will be we don't know." Reports show 325,000 Americans are sickened and hospitalized by comtaminated food each year. 00:08:40

[CC] 00:09:48 From peanut buter, to alfalfa sprouts, food recalls often make us rethink what we eat. One Iowa senator wants changes so we don't have to worry. Coming up, what he says need to be done to ensure our food safety. 00:12:48

[CC] 00:15:25 Senator Tom Harkin was not talking health care reform today. But instead was pushing for food safety reform. Harkin wants changes in food saftey regulations, including more testing, better tracking and faster response to outbreaks. He wants the FDA and USDA to strenghten saftey procedures. Harkin said thirty years ago, inspectors made 35,000 visits to food processing plants a year. Now, there are twice as many plants, and only six thousand visits each year. Harkin says its just one of many flaws in the food saftey system. "As I observed before, I said many times food safety is a patchwork system is giving too much credit to it. Food safety in this country is hit or miss gamble. Parents are rolling the dice when it cmoes to their kids' food." Harkin admits he's not sure what increased food safety would cost. 00:18:25