Clinton Calls for More Listeria Testing

May 8, 2000

President Clinton says new regulations will be proposed to require more testing for listeria at food processing plants in pace of the present random testing methods. He also called on Congress and the food industry to help strengthen food safety systems.

"If we work together, we can make real gains this year," Clinton said in his Saturday radio address. "We can increase the number of inspections of domestic and imported foods. We can expand the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to turn away imported food that does not meet our high safety standards. And at long last, we can give USDA the authority to recall bad food and impose civil penalties for repeat violations."

He said USDA and the Health and Human Services Department would prepare "an aggressive new strategy" to reduce the risk of listeria-caused illnesses. As part of that strategy, he added, new regulations will be imposed to require "scientific approaches such as systematic testing for listeria at food-processing plants – not just random checks."

Clinton said that should allow the number of listeria-related illnesses to be halved over five years and save more than 1,000 lives.