Campbell Discusses Farm Impact of Consumerism, Environmentalism
“American consumers live in
such a sanitized world that they
take for granted the safety and
wholesomeness of food in the
marketplace and in eating
establishments.” Under
Secretary of Agriculture J. Phil
Campbell told a National Turkey
Federation meeting in Colorado
Springs, Col., last week.
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‘lt’s true that the United States
has the safest, most bountiful and
most economical food supply in
the world,” Campbell declared.
“In fact, Americans when
traveling outside the U.S. must
exercise care in what they eat
and drink as they have no
resistance to types of infection
and contamination to which
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native populations in other
countries have developed
resistance.”
The Under Secretary said that
even though Americans enjoy
safety in food quality “and a
wonderful job done by farmers,
processors, and marketers of
food—it is not enough. We must
do an even better job to assure
the consumer that she is getting
food which is free of chemical
residues, wholesome, produced
under the best of sanitation and
has good shelf quality.”
Campbell pointed out that ever
improving standards on food
safety, nutritional content, en
vironmental concerns and
consumer protection impose
increasing responsibility upon
the food production and
processing chain. “You must
respond favorably to this new
responsibility, otherwise the
consumer will lose the confidence
she now has in your produce,” he
added.
“The responsibility falls
squarely on your shoulders to
prove to consumers that you are
responsive to their demands and
are, in fact, continuing to provide
a safe and sanitary product. If
you continue to make it your
business to be concerned about
these issues, and to act on that
concern, the consumer will react
favorably. I suggest that you do
this not only because it’s right,
N.
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but also because it’s good for
business.”
Among actions the industry
should be aware of, involving
consumer protection and en
vironmental quality, are local
enforcement of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act on
meat and poultry plants, Camp
bell said. “A large number of
meat and poultry plants have
been required by their state and
local authorities to install sewage
treatment faciliti-« to remove
pollutants from their effluent in
order to comply with water
quality standards ”
The Under Secretary explained
that the act requires that any
plant discharging effluent into a
navigable body of water must
obtain a certificate from an
appropriate state water pollution
control agency. This certificate is
to the effect that the effluent will
meet water quality standards
and no discharge is permitted
which will endanger the health or
welfare of any person.
Two other matters of interest
arising from governmental ac
tion are open dating of foods and
nutritional labeling, the Under
Secretary pointed out He said
open dating of foods is difficult to
apply to meat and poultry
products because of their highly
perishable nature.
“It is difficult to establish pull
dates for meat and poultry
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 8,1972
products—the time products
should be removed from the
shelves—since the period of time
the product will remain
wholesome is highly dependent
upon the care exercized in the
handling and selling at the retail
level,” Campbell explained.
Turning to nutritional labeling
of foods, the Under Secretary
said guidelines proposed by the
Food and Drug Administration
have been reviewed by USDA.
“Generally, we feel the labeling
will be of considerable benefit to
consumers in selecting foods for
a well-balanced diet,” he com
mented.
Campbell also reminded the
group of continued surveillance
of foods by the FDA with respect
to the use of pesticidal chemicals
in or on agricultural commodities
which could have an adverse
effect on human health. The food
industry must ever be watchful to
limit the quamtity of any
poisonous or deleterious sub
stance added to any food, he
added
“As part of our responsibilities
at USDA, we check on all non
meat and non-poultry products
entering establishments for use
as ingredients in processed
items Our program consists of
visual examination by the in
spector and sampling and
PH: 397-3539
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