## TESTIMONY OF DR. KENNETH E. PETERSEN

**ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS**

**FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE**

#### UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

#### BEFORE THE

#### U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

### COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

**May 9, 2007**

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Goodlatte and other Members of
the Committee. I am the Assistant Administrator for Field Operations for
the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA).

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the
ongoing investigation of the animal feed supplemented with pet food
scraps containing melamine and melamine-related compounds. I am pleased
to be here today with my colleague, Dr. David Acheson, from the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS).

Before I get into details, let me begin by emphasizing that FSIS takes
very seriously its responsibilities to ensure the safety of meat,
poultry, and processed egg products. We do not believe the current
incident poses a threat to human health, and we are not aware of any
human illnesses that have ever been linked to melamine or melamine
related compounds.

In my testimony today, I hope to achieve three goals. First, I will
provide you with a brief description of FSIS responsibilities as they
relate to this issue. Second, I will describe FSIS actions in response
to this incident, including some background on the science behind our
decisions. Finally, I will outline our next steps in this ongoing
investigation.

**FSIS' Mission**

Our mission at FSIS is to ensure that meat, poultry, and processed egg
products distributed in commerce for use as human food are safe, secure,
wholesome, and accurately labeled. FSIS is charged with administering
and enforcing the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products
Inspection Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act, portions of the
Agricultural Marketing Act, and the regulations that implement these
laws. FSIS also ensures compliance with the Humane Methods of Slaughter
Act, which requires that all livestock be handled and slaughtered in a
humane manner. The Agency is responsible for determining equivalence to
federal standards at the state level and among our foreign trading
partners.

We work closely with our sister agencies -- such as the FDA -- to ensure
that the U.S. food supply remains the safest in the world. Essentially,
our Agency is charged with ensuring the safety of the meat, poultry, and
processed egg product supply once animals leave the farms for the
slaughter and processing establishments -- we inspect each animal at
slaughter before applying the mark of inspection. We also inspect all
processing establishments to ensure sanitary and other regulatory
requirements are met.

Our inspection program personnel form the backbone of FSIS' public
health infrastructure in laboratories, plants, and import houses
throughout the country. In FY 2006, the Agency had approximately 7,600
full-time personnel protecting the public health in 6,000
federally-inspected establishments nationwide where FSIS inspection
program personnel performed antemortem and postmortem inspection
procedures to ensure public health requirements were met in the
processing of over 46 billion pounds of livestock carcasses, almost 57
billion pounds of poultry carcasses, and about 4.4 billion pounds of
liquid egg products. Approximately 60 cents of every food dollar in the
United States is spent on foods that FSIS inspects.

In FY 2006, FSIS inspection program personnel conducted more than eight
million procedures to verify that establishments met food safety and
wholesomeness requirements. In addition, during FY 2006, approximately
3.9 billion pounds of meat and poultry and about 5.9 million pounds of
egg products were presented for import inspection at U.S. ports and
borders. FSIS also has Program Investigators nationwide who conduct food
safety, food defense, and outbreak investigations and enforcements.

**FSIS' Role Responding to Melamine in Animal Feed**

FSIS has been working cooperatively with the FDA on the investigation
into swine and poultry feed containing imported wheat flour contaminated
with melamine and melamine related compounds.

FSIS was first alerted by the FDA on April 19 to the possibility that
contaminated pet food scraps may have been used in animal feed by
producers of food animals. Since that initial contact, FSIS has been
assisting FDA with the investigation, including on-site visits to farms
and daily communication with State and local officials.

By April 26, investigative results confirmed that a relatively limited
number of hogs had consumed contaminated feed. At that time, FSIS joined
FDA in alerting the public that adulterated feed had been fed to some
hogs, and assured them that those hogs would not be allowed to enter the
food supply until we could conduct the necessary scientific work to make
a safety determination. Due to the limited information available at the
time, USDA could not determine whether it was appropriate to place the
mark of inspection on food products derived from these animals.
Accordingly, we worked with states and producers to quarantine or hold
the animals until further notice. FSIS was also working to determine
what, if any, product had entered commerce. USDA announced that if the
identified animals needed to be depopulated, producers would be
compensated for those costs.

On April 30, USDA and FDA announced that the agencies had learned that
pet food scraps from pet food manufactured with wheat flour contaminated
with melamine and melamine-related compounds had been sold to a limited
number of farms for use as supplements in chicken feed. As with exposure
from pork products, we believed that humans were highly unlikely to
become ill from consuming poultry products produced from chickens that
had consumed feed supplemented with pet food scraps contaminated with
melamine and melamine-related compounds.

However, as was the case with the swine, because the feed in question
was contaminated, and given the information that was available at that
time, FSIS could not apply the mark of inspection. Therefore, the Agency
determined that chickens fed the contaminated chicken feed would not be
approved to enter the human food supply, pending further investigation.
As with the hogs, chickens on the affected farms were held voluntarily
by the producers at the request of Federal and State authorities.

This past Monday, May 7, FSIS determined that the mark of inspection
could now be placed on meat and poultry products when the animals are
from farms traced to contaminated feed that, when sampled, tested
negative.

This determination was made after a risk assessment was conducted by
scientists from FDA, FSIS, CDC, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), and the Department of Homeland Security. The risk assessment
found that consuming meat from hogs and chickens known to have been fed
animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that contained melamine
and melamine-related compounds represent a very low risk to human
health. In the most extreme risk assessment scenario, the scientists
assumed the unlikely event that *all* the solid food a person consumes
in an entire day was contaminated with melamine. Even then, the
potential exposure was about 2,500 times lower than the dose considered
safe; well below any level of public health concern.

As I've already mentioned, FDA and USDA have confirmed that scraps of
contaminated pet food that contained only low levels of melamine were
distributed to farms in a limited number of States and added to swine
and poultry feed. These scraps constituted only a small percentage of
the farm animal rations. In addition, melamine is known to be excreted
in animal urine. When exposure levels are much higher, as was the case
with cats and dogs, the melamine and its compounds appear to cause the
formation of crystals, resulting in kidney damage. There is no
indication of kidney damage in hogs. Both hogs and chickens known to
have consumed contaminated feed appear to be healthy.

The assessment that the risk to human health is very low is based on a
number of factors, including the dilution of the contaminating melamine
and melamine-related compounds from the original concentrate as it moves
through the food system. First, it is a partial ingredient in pet food;
second, it is only part of the total feed given to the hogs and poultry;
third, it is not known to accumulate in the bodies of animals; fourth,
even if present in pork or poultry, pork and poultry are only a small
part of the average American diet. Neither FDA nor FSIS has uncovered
any evidence of harm to swine or poultry from the contaminated feed.

This dilution factor was an important piece of data considered in the
multi-agency science-based human risk assessment and helps to support
the conclusion that there is very low risk to human health from eating
meat from animals that were fed the contaminated product.

**Current Status**

As soon as the situation arose, we ensured that swine and poultry on
farms known to have received or suspected of receiving contaminated feed
that had tested positive for melamine and melamine-related compounds
were held under State quarantine or voluntarily by the owners. As the
investigation has proceeded, we now know that, in several cases, on-farm
feed samples have tested negative for melamine and related compounds.
These tests were conducted by federal or State laboratories using
approved methods. Most likely because only very small amounts of the
contaminated feed were mixed with other rations, the melamine and
related compounds were no longer detectable. USDA has concluded that,
based on the human risk assessment and the inability to detect melamine
in the feed samples, these animals no longer need to be quarantined or
withheld from processing.

In other cases, feed samples have tested positive for melamine and
related compounds; feed samples were not available; or feed samples have
not yet been submitted for testing. These animals continue to be
withheld from processing, but are not yet being culled, pending the
results of the animal risk assessment. New scientific information is
expected to be completed soon \-- hopefully within one week. Upon
completion of further risk assessment information, USDA will determine
whether these animals can be released for inspection and further
processing.

If animals are not released for inspection and are euthanized, Section
32 funds can be made available to restore farmers\' purchasing power.
USDA is also offering the expertise and assistance of Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) personnel in carrying out depopulation
activities, to ensure animals are euthanized and disposed of in
accordance with federal and State laws.

**Next Steps**

USDA and FDA continue working together to conduct a full and
comprehensive investigation. As additional information is confirmed,
updates will be provided and decisions will be made using the best
available science to protect the public\'s health. We will also make the
risk assessment available for public comment. The scientists that worked
on the first risk assessment are now compiling a scientific assessment
of the risk to animal health associated with the ingestion of animal
feed containing melamine and its compounds. We are also now in the
process of identifying a group of experts to convene a scientific
advisory board that would be charged with reviewing the risk assessment.
This group would also be asked to contribute to future scientific
analysis related to the risk of melamine and its compounds to humans and
animals.

We recognize how important it is to communicate with our stakeholders,
our partners and the general public in an open and transparent manner.
Throughout the ongoing investigation with FDA, we have been sharing
information with State departments of agriculture and State
veterinarians. We continue to keep trading partners informed through the
Foreign Agricultural Service. We have been updating our stakeholders
from industry and consumer organizations. We have been working with the
FDA to keep the general public informed. We will continue to reach out
to our stakeholders, our partners and the general public to keep them
informed as the investigation continues and provide the opportunity for
them to provide comments for our consideration. And we will continue to
keep Congress informed of our ongoing investigations.

Thank you again for providing me with the opportunity to address the
Committee on this

issue. I would be happy to respond to any questions you have