Few issues are more important to the American people than food safety.
And I have no higher priority as secretary of agriculture than ensuring Americans' continued confidence in the safety of their food supply. With its July 18 editorial, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer grossly misrepresented the USDA's work. We are not lowering our safety standards in any way, and we are not issuing new rules permitting defective or diseased animal carcasses to enter the food supply. The Clinton administration has, in fact, shown tremendous leadership on food safety issues. Our new science-based food safety system has proven a huge success.