“I commend President Obama and Vice President Biden for making this a top priority of the Administration and stand ready to work with them and members of Congress as they continue to consider further steps to protect the nation’s food supply,” said Bob Aiken, president and chief executive officer at USF. “U.S. Foodservice supplies more than 250,000 customers all across our country and the safety of the food we deliver is our number one priority.”
Aiken said that preventing food-borne pathogens from entering the food supply will benefit food distributors and their customers by reducing or eliminating the need for costly and disruptive recalls of contaminated products. He also offered U.S. Foodservice's technical expertise as an industry leader to both the administration and the Congress as they go about finalizing food safety legislation later this year.
“Having the safest food supply means using the best food safety standards at every level— locally, nationally and, most important globally,” said Jorge Hernandez, senior vice president of food safety and quality assurance for U.S. Foodservice. “U.S. Foodservice has a long history of support for food safety regulations that make sense and protect the public’s health. The administration’s renewed efforts to stop contamination at its source will complement the efforts of our company and industry to monitor every link in the food supply chain—from the field to the fork.”
On behalf of the NRA, Beth Johnson, executive vice president of public affairs, said, "The safety of the food supply continues to be the restaurant industry's number one priority, and we applaud the Obama Administration's leadership in this area. The emphasis on prevention and the creation of a deputy foods commissioner position within the FDA brings renewed focus to reforming our nation's food safety system. The key findings by the Administration's Food Safety Working Group bring a fresh perspective to the policy discussions and are an important step forward in achieving much needed reform.”
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.