Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard have expressed "serious concern" regarding a proposed rulemaking that is currently pending before the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that would have a damaging impact on the US state of California.
In a joint letter dated May 5 and addressed to Peter Orszag, Director of the OMB under the Executive Office of the US President, the Congress members, both from California, wrote:
"We understand that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a proposed rule that would dramatically expand the definition of 'catfish' for the purposes of its new catfish inspection program. This redefinition would limit consumers' seafood options, eliminate California seafood processing lines, damage our state's unique bilateral relationship with Asian trading partners and could cost our state critical jobs during these trying economic times."
In 2002, the US Congress defined "catfish" as the domestic species "ictaluridae" and since there has been an increasing demand in California and around the country for "pangasius", an affordable, mild, white fish from Asia and these fish are marketed in the US as "tra", "basa" or "swai", the two Congress members said.
"However", they said, "we understand that domestic catfish farmers are attempting to convince USDA to reverse current law through regulation by expanding the definition of catfish to include 'pangasius' in the proposed rulemaking implementing the new catfish inspection program from the 2008 Farm Bill."
“This rule would be detrimental for California businesses and consumers and damaging to our trade relationship with Asia,” they stressed, adding “millions of pounds of 'pangasius' are currently imported through California ports. The growth in 'pangasius' imports has helped provide an affordable, healthy protein for the American people and critical jobs for California longshoremen, teamsters, cold storage owners, processors and distributors."
This would "have a serious impact on the Vietnamese economy where 'pangasius' trade is about 2 percent of their gross domestic product and the potential for serious impact on the US economy if Vietnam pursues WTO retaliations against US exports,” they further said.
The two US Congress members also said that they did not understand why safety inspection of certain seafood should be moved from the FDA, which "successfully ensures the safety of seafood through the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point process", to the USDA.
According to them, in 2006, the most recent year that date is available, hospitals reported only 10 illnesses attributable to e.coli, listeria or salmonella from seafood while about 1,100 illnesses were reported from the same pathogens attributable to poultry. Accounting for lower per capita consumption of seafood, fish inspected by FDA is 14 times less likely to result in hospitalisations than are other proteins.
They asked the OMB Director to learn from the experience in other countries that have also thoroughly investigated the safety of Vietnam's pangasius exports.
They cited the Spanish Ministry of Health Affairs’ examination on 'pangasius' in 2009 as saying that 'pangasius' met food safety regulations set by the European Union and posed no danger to consumer health.
Italy 's Parliament, after also testing the safety of 'pangasius' in April 2009 similarly stated that neither Italy nor the EU have ever adopted restrictive measures on 'pangasius' from Vietnam .
Most recently, Japan 's Pharmaceutical and Food Safety Bureau focused on broad Vietnam seafood safety issues and concluded that Vietnam meets the strict standards for export to Japan 's markets".
Senator Feinstein and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard also urged the OMB Director to listen to the views of the experts at the State Department, US Trade Representative, Department of Commerce and FDA and their "serious concerns” about the economic and trade impact in California as he concluded his review of the proposed redefinition of 'catfish'./.
In a joint letter dated May 5 and addressed to Peter Orszag, Director of the OMB under the Executive Office of the US President, the Congress members, both from California, wrote:
"We understand that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a proposed rule that would dramatically expand the definition of 'catfish' for the purposes of its new catfish inspection program. This redefinition would limit consumers' seafood options, eliminate California seafood processing lines, damage our state's unique bilateral relationship with Asian trading partners and could cost our state critical jobs during these trying economic times."
In 2002, the US Congress defined "catfish" as the domestic species "ictaluridae" and since there has been an increasing demand in California and around the country for "pangasius", an affordable, mild, white fish from Asia and these fish are marketed in the US as "tra", "basa" or "swai", the two Congress members said.
"However", they said, "we understand that domestic catfish farmers are attempting to convince USDA to reverse current law through regulation by expanding the definition of catfish to include 'pangasius' in the proposed rulemaking implementing the new catfish inspection program from the 2008 Farm Bill."
“This rule would be detrimental for California businesses and consumers and damaging to our trade relationship with Asia,” they stressed, adding “millions of pounds of 'pangasius' are currently imported through California ports. The growth in 'pangasius' imports has helped provide an affordable, healthy protein for the American people and critical jobs for California longshoremen, teamsters, cold storage owners, processors and distributors."
This would "have a serious impact on the Vietnamese economy where 'pangasius' trade is about 2 percent of their gross domestic product and the potential for serious impact on the US economy if Vietnam pursues WTO retaliations against US exports,” they further said.
The two US Congress members also said that they did not understand why safety inspection of certain seafood should be moved from the FDA, which "successfully ensures the safety of seafood through the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point process", to the USDA.
According to them, in 2006, the most recent year that date is available, hospitals reported only 10 illnesses attributable to e.coli, listeria or salmonella from seafood while about 1,100 illnesses were reported from the same pathogens attributable to poultry. Accounting for lower per capita consumption of seafood, fish inspected by FDA is 14 times less likely to result in hospitalisations than are other proteins.
They asked the OMB Director to learn from the experience in other countries that have also thoroughly investigated the safety of Vietnam's pangasius exports.
They cited the Spanish Ministry of Health Affairs’ examination on 'pangasius' in 2009 as saying that 'pangasius' met food safety regulations set by the European Union and posed no danger to consumer health.
Italy 's Parliament, after also testing the safety of 'pangasius' in April 2009 similarly stated that neither Italy nor the EU have ever adopted restrictive measures on 'pangasius' from Vietnam .
Most recently, Japan 's Pharmaceutical and Food Safety Bureau focused on broad Vietnam seafood safety issues and concluded that Vietnam meets the strict standards for export to Japan 's markets".
Senator Feinstein and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard also urged the OMB Director to listen to the views of the experts at the State Department, US Trade Representative, Department of Commerce and FDA and their "serious concerns” about the economic and trade impact in California as he concluded his review of the proposed redefinition of 'catfish'./.
