Transcripts For CSPAN2 Consumer Federation Of America Hosts Food Policy Conference 20170412

Of the Obama Administration. Held by the Consumer Federation of america, this is about two hours and 15 minutes. Good morning. Welcome. My name is thomas, the director of the Food Policy Institute and Consumer Federation of america and i would like to welcome you and thank you for attending our 40th annual National Food policy conference. Today is also the second day of the jewish passover holiday, so i would like to say happy passover. As many of you know, Consumer Federation of america is an association of nearly 300 nonprofit consumer organizatio organizations. We were established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, education and advocacy. And with focus on a lot of different Consumer Protection topics, but particularly relevant to this conference, we do food safety, nutrition and agricultural policy. So this Conference Provides an opportunity to hear from some of the key policymakers and players in the food policy world. Opportunity to explore food policy from a diverse range of perspectives. I hope you will agree we have a really Great Program for this years conference. And that program reflects the exemplary work of our Advisory Committee. I dont have a packet of it with me, but if you look in your packet you can see a listing of our Advisory Committee members. I would just like to say thank you to excellent advisory. One of the great ideas that came out of our Advisory Committee meeting this year was to try Live Audience polling, get into the new millennium. Im going to test that out now. If you look up at the screen behind me, we have our first Live Audience polling question. The least important question that you answer at this years conference. So i think it will be interesting to see how we feel about that. So there are two ways that you can participate in this Live Audience polling. You can get on your phone browser, your phone, laptop, your tablet browser and put in the pollev. Com foodpolicy, or you can text food policy to the number 22333 and so right out food policy in the message of the text. And as you see, somebody that must be a millennial has already gotten on an answered. So were going to try this out. See if we get any yeses and let you experiment with that. While you extremely fat, while you experiment with that i want to reflect a little bit on this being our 40th anniversary National Food policy conference and what a Great Program we have this year. In a few minutes congressman jim mcgovern will be talking with you. Later this afternoon we are pleased to have dr. Susan mayne, director of the u. S. Food and drug administrations center for food safety and applied nutrition. Tomorrow well start the program with chuck conner, he is the president and ceo of the National Council of farmer cooperatives, also a former acting secretary of agriculture and member of president trumps agricultural Advisory Committee. That will be followed by a conversation with esther dyson, who is an entrepreneur, an angel investor, and whose way to build initiatives helping five communities to shift resources towards quote producing Health Rather than trying to recover it. Part of that strategy has a lot to do with changes to the food supply. So i think thats going to be very interesting. Lets check in on our poll. Okay, i have to interpret that as a lot of disenchanted all right isolationists. Or another interpretation. So i think we can close the door on this one, this vital question. Continuing with our experiment, this will give us a better sense of our audience today. The food policy conference, we are proud to attract a very diverse mix of folks here and you guys are ahead of the curve. And so, yeah, our interests tend to fall in these three categories. Did you sometime. Ill give you some time. I know wouldnt have responded by now. I want to recognize some of the people that have made this conference possible over the years. 40 years ago ellen haas started this conference while she was with a group called the Community Nutritionists institute, and for many years after that, art jaeger kept it going. He also ran an awards ceremony called golden carrot awas during the 90s, which i know was very popular. And it has become a really beloved institution, a lot of folks that attend, as the question kind of indicates, we have a mix of interests represented at the food policy conference, and it started as a very nutrition focused event. And so its not surprising that a lot of us are most interested in nutrition. But we do have, we have a large food safety contingent as well, and i think that reflects in no small part the influence of carol tucker foreman who ran the conference and played a big role in Consumer Federation of america for many years, and had an outside effect on food policy generally, but food safety in particular. I should also hasten to add that a lot of our programs, or everyone that each of these groups, dont feel bad if youre a food safety minority. Okay, so give me off the stage. We will move on to our final polling question, to test out all the features of our platform here. And i should do the number. For this, dont write in, and we will see. This is sort of work cloud feature. It would not have occurred to me to say zero, because you are here now. So thats one. I know that at least there is one, 13 out there. I believe it is 13. And i think if chris waltrip, who i, i know for a lot of you, chris has been the face of the food policy conference for as long as you have attended, before i took over for last year. Chris organize the food call the food policy conference for 13 years so i know he has attended at least 13. Last year he took a welldeserved break, really glad to have him back for this years event. I just want to say thank you to chris for being such an invaluable member of our Advisory Committee, p or a lot of the program reflects his input, and for that matter, whats in your packet today reflects, go back and forth with chris, and hes been very generous with his time, sharing wisdom he could over the years of leading this event. He accrued. I dont know, i dont know what food policy was in response to. So we will be ironing out the kinks of a Live Audience polling over the next day and a half, but thank you for participating in that. And thank you for being here. Whatever you do, wherever you are from, this conference is a great opportunity to mingle and network with a Diverse Group of folks. And thank you for joining us here, and we hope you enjoy the program. We hope you enjoy the networking reception that weve added to the program at the end of the day. Please make sure you hang around for that. If any of you are on twitter, you can follow us cfafoodpolicy, and a hashtag for the conference is cfafpc2017. A couple points on logistics. We are in the ballroom. This is where we will be having lunch and where are networking reception will be at the end of the day. Two other Breakout Sessions location on this floor. Salon e is out to my right, and the london breakout room is out to the left, and then our third breakout room is on the third floor where it says health club and pool on the elevator. So keep that in mind. Give yourself a little bit of time to get up there. You can take the stairs but its a bit of an adventure. Restrooms are located out the door to my left. There is a map in your packet if you get lost, you can go to the Registration Table and we can help you. This also is a description of the panels if youre having trouble deciding, just consult that. Weve got a few exhibit tables outside the registration area, to my right over there. And we have exhibitors from the union of concerned site is, the National Association of county and city health officials, dupont, the interNational Food information council, the u. S. Food and drug administration, and Usda Economic Research service. We also have a table for General Information if anyone has reports, brochures or handouts they would like to make available to your fellow attendees. Id like to take a minute to thank our sponsors. They are listed on the back of your printed program. We are very grateful to all our sponsors for their support. These companies and organizations rarely recognize the importance of supporting an event like this where we can foster an open and vigorous exchange of ideas on important food policy topics. So thanks to all our sponsors. Id also like to thank Sally Squires and her team for their promotional support again this year and their excellent design work over the past several months and the registration emails in the colorful programming pressures. Finally, special thanks to the cfa staff they put in an enormous amount of work to register all the participants, prepare the conference cereals, much of the logistical work to make this conference happen. Id like to especially thank annamarie lowery and the rest of the cfa staff that is here today. [applause] and id like to thank all of you very much for being here. Once again, welcome to the 2017 National Food policy conference. Now, to kick off the program im thrilled to present our opening keynote speaker. He is a native with stuff, massachusetts which he now represents in congress along with the wreck of the Second District of massachusetts. Elected to congress in 1996, cuban leader answered policy issues and particularly outspoken on hunger issues. He has promised one hell of a fight to those proposing cuts to food aid programs and it he counts among self the child Tuition Program that gained notoriety for their target of elimination if those budget cuts. Hes the second ranking democrat on the house rules committee, a member of the house Agriculture Committee, the democratic ranking on the House Committee of the sub city and cochair the house hunger caucus among many other credentials. Since 2013 as part of his hashtag in hunger now campaign he is given nearly weekly speech is focused on Food Insecurity in america on the floor of the us house of representatives. We are happy to have him talk about hunger and other food policy related issues today. Please welcome congressman jim mcgovern. [applause] good morning everybody. I know its not easy to get up early in the morning. The only thing worse is to be the first speaker of the morning. Thank you. I want to thank the confederation for bringing all of you here together, the representatives from consumer advocate, Food Industry, nonprofits as well as governmental officials that have come together to have important conversations about agriculture, food policy and nutrition. I welcome the opportunity to be here. I probably should state at the outset that sometimes people think because my name is mcgovern that im related to George Mcgovern from the senator from south dakota who iran for president in 1972, and while i worked as an intern in his office in the senate during college and he became a good friend and a good inspiration, we are not related. I say that because i was getting a copy in the lobby and somebody came up to me and told me they were longtime supporters of my dad. [laughter] they seemed a little shocked when i said thank you but my dad owned a liquor store in massachusetts. I hope youll keep supporting him. [laughter] i thought i should clear the air on that. Look, i welcome the opportunity to talk about the issue of hunger and Food Insecurity in this country and around the world. Its an important issue. Its one of those issues that is maddening because its solvable. I tell people all the time that hunger is a political condition. We have the money, the resources, the infrastructure, the brainpower, we have everything we dont have the political will. I have a tough time grasping why that is the case. We live in the richest country in the history of the world and we had 42 million americans who are hungry and food insecure in the United States of america. As a United States congressman and as a citizen of this country im ashamed of that. I find that so unacceptable that it is unconscionable with all of our riches in this country, with all of our knowhow and ingenuity. That is the reality. We talk about hunger, its more about talking about people who dont have enough to eat. There are other issues related to it. There are Health Issues related to people who on a regular basis go without food. If your child misses meals on a regular basis and you show up in school, youre less likely to be able to learn. Youre more likely to have developmental challenges in your lifetime. If youre a pregnant mother and cant get the adequate nutrition, that oftentimes results in the birth of an unhealthy baby. If you are a worker who on a regular basis those without food, youll be less productive in the workplace. There are all these avoidable costs that are associated with hunger. So when we talk about it, we need to look at it, not the immediate problem but at the impact it has on our country and on so many people who live in this country. I have had a blessed life. Im not talking about getting elected for congress, i dont know if its a blessing blessing or a curse on base. I have had a blessed life in the sense that i have never had to worry about basic necessities. Ive always had a home, shelter. Ive always had enough to eat. Ive never been hungry. I believe that those of us who are blessed have a special observation to make sure that we worry about and care about those who are having challenges. Thats just the decent thing to do. Whether its in our communities or whether its in congress, i i think this is a matter of decency to address issues like hunger. I get frustrated in congress because while i think this issue should not be a partisan issue, and for many years it wasnt. George mcgovern and bob dole Work Together in a bipartisan way during the 1970s to help strengthen our nutrition and empty hunger programs. We were our way to eliminating hunger in this country and then we began to reverse some of the progress we made. Now, what i find is that this issue has become polarizing. Youre never gonna find a member of congress that is pro hunger. They will never say that to you. When you look at the voting records of some of my colleagues, i dont know how you could come to any other conclusion. What ends up happening is that they are chipping away at programs that provide the basic necessity of food to our children and two parents and two older people. When i look at the president s budget were told that in that budget there may be cuts to programs like wic, womens infant and children program. Basic nutrition for pregnant mothers and their Young Children after their born. It is important, it is important because if we neglect that then will have to pay in other ways on the line. Again i hate to talk about this in terms of the bottom line in dollars and cents, but we should be moved to do something because its our moral obligation. Because we want to prevent human suffering in this country. I get the feeling sometimes that thats not enough. I get to become friends when i was first got elected a great visionary and economist came to me and said one to me one time id ask you to go out and comfort the afflicted but in these days that might be considered eccentric. Go afflict the comfortable. I think thats the mode were in right now. We have to go afflict some of the comfortable and get them to get responding in ways to make progress on issues like hunger. We have these debates in congress and its about the fact that the people who need this programs that characterize as somehow lazy or somehow undeserving or theyre poor because they want to be poor. Ive never met anybody who wants to be poor. Ive never met anybody who wants to be hungry and by the way, just the facts are clear, when we talk about snap, the majority people on snap unsnap our children. They are Senior Citizens, people who are disabled of those who can work, the majority work. Why isnt the question in washington how can it be that somebody who works is still so poor that they need to rely on snap to put food on the table. Why are we talking about increasing wages in this country so that people can actually earn a livable wage and be able to afford to put people on the food on the table. The debate can demonize the Vulnerable People on this country the perception in washington is so different from the reality all throughout this country. We talk about people making better choices. We want people to make healthier choices. Absolutely. We all need to make healthier choices not just people who are unsnap. We have studies that show that those of us who are able to afford our own food, make lousy choices too. We need to have a better and more Effective National dialogue on nutrition but with regard to snap i serve on the nutrition subcommittee and jerry i dont know how many hearings, i lost count after 20, so many hearings that ive lost count but during one of the left hearings someone raise the issue that these people make better choices. The reason why, and its pretty simple, the average snap benefit is a dollar 40. Person. Meal. I bought a Starbucks Coffee on the way in here and that was more than a dollar 40 and that was a small one. The benefits we provide a people are inadequate. What we should be talking about is making sure the social safety is a safety net, that it provides people for what it needs to be able to put nutritious food on the table. Weve got to be talking about increasing the benefit of snap, not talking about decreasing it or putting more hurdles in place to make it more difficult for people to obtain the benefit. Were having a debate about ablebodied adults without dependents and whether they should get snap. Ablebodied adults they are people that are eligible to be unsnap for three months but if they dont have a job or if theyre not any work a Training Program for three months they can lose their benefits for three years. I think thats ridiculous. People need food, there are some things you dont need but food you do need. Some members of congress question whether if they are ablebodied adults should get three months to begin with. If you can prove to me that being hungry makes you more likely to get a job or more sellable in the workplace, im all ears. For a lot of these people they live in rural areas where they dont have access to transportation. Where they cant get to a job Training Program and in some areas there are no jobs. Some of them have undiagnosed mental Health Issues, and have dealt with Substance Abuse and some of these able body adults are veterans and they have served our country halfway around the world and having a difficult time getting reintegrated into the community, they fall into that category. It used to be that governors stage the request waivers so that people wouldnt go without the benefit and now we have an effort to abandoning any waivers when it comes to these ablebodied adults without dependents in the community. I find that ridiculous. I find that so wrong. Were supposed to be in washington helping people and lifting people up, not demonizing or putting them down. Not making peoples life more miserable and yet that is what, in effect, were doing. Were talking about a new farm bill. Youve seen the president s budget. Also, goes after meals on wheels which is crazy. His budget director says there is no evidence between some of these nutritional programs and better performance in students in schools or Better Outcomes who receive the Health Benefits status. I will show him a gazillion studies that show the benefits of the nutrition at every age. And how important it is at every age to make sure people have access to Good Nutrition. Just because you say it doesnt mean its true. I know we live in a place for alternative facts are in vogue but facts are facts, or fax, or fax. Good nutrition benefits people in a million different ways. Id argue that Good Nutrition is the cheapest healthcare out there. My grandmother said to me, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It used to annoy me. I wish he was alive so i could say, youre right. Good nutritious food oftentimes results in good health. It prevents us from getting diseases like diabetes, obesity, high, high blood pressure, diabetes and we have doctors that have the ability to write out prescriptions for very pharmaceuticals but maybe we should get them to write for good nutritious food which is cheaper and in the long run more benefit to that person. We need to get our medical schools to focus on nutrition more. I wish during the Affordable Care act when we had a debate that there was a bigger discussion on the importance of nutrition as a way to keep people healthy. I think that discussion needs to continue to build. The idea that we will take food away from people, to me, its not something we can send for in the last farmville we had the republicans in the house actually moved to cut the snap benefit by 40 million. 40 billion. We had amendments on drug testing, snap recipients and i dont see any amendments on asking that we drug test big heads of defense contracting firms. They get more money from taxpayers and people unsnap. But lets drug test members of congress and that would explain why were having the stupid discussions have the time my back it makes absolutely no sense to me that these are the things that we continue to talk about. The bottom line is that one of the things that need to change in this country, especially amongst those that advocate for these policies, is that we need to insist that when people do things like that there is a consequence. When i vote for junk guncontrol violation, i get the nra calling my office, sending me letters, visiting my district and i know theyre knocking about for me. If i vote against tax cuts for particular industry, nine times out of ten theyre setting their representative into see me and telling me how bad i am and how they want to support my opponent. Theres a consequence. But when members of Congress Vote to cut snap by 40 billion, there wasnt consequence. What have to change in this country for to change our priorities is that when people do things like that they need to feel the pain. On trent because theyre pain. They need to understand that if youre going to vote to make hunger worse in this country then will let your constituents know and were to make sure youre held accountable in the ballot box. If the one thing the democrats and republicans have in common in washington, we all want to get reelected. And i think on the issues of hunger and food security, we need to elevate this issue. This needs to be a consequence. The other thing i want to say . I want to spend more time having a conversation that would be better and i hear myself talk all the time, so id rather hear from some of you . But the other thing we need to grapple with in the upcoming farm bill and any cutting benefits from snap is the issue of food waste. We have 40 of what what we produce in this country, we dont eat. Oftentimes, if thrown away. I visited supermarkets they probably think, probably Call Security when i show up but i look in the dumpsters in the back of the supermarkets. Perfectly good foodbeing thrown away. There are some who are doing good job trying to recapture that food but we need a National Policy on this. We have farmers that dont have the infrastructure, dont have the manpower or woman power to be able to capture food that they dont think would be sellable at their local supermarkets. Were also finicky about our food, we have to have an apple look like it came out of snow white. If theres theres a bump in it, we dont want to buy it. So, oftentimes, those fruits and vegetables are discarded. Sometimes theyre used for animal feed, some places composting, sometimes theyre putting landfills which is a bad idea but lets see if we could recapture some of this perfectly good food for our schools, senior centers, food banks and we need to be thinking out of the box and creatively about how we put this infrastructure in order to recapture the food on our farms, in our restaurants, in our our supermarkets, and lets not waste it. My grandmother also used to say to me, if i didnt eat all my food, that its a sin. You know, i had the fear of god put into me so i always finish my food but shes right. Especially when the need is so great. I would like to say one final thing . Thomas mentioned the interNational Food for education this is a Global School feeding program. Basically what we learned is that many of the poorest countries in the world, kids dont go to school because their parents have been working in the fields or in and some other so they could have enough to feed them. You introduce food and nutritious meal in a School Setting and some of these four countries, more kids go to school. And not only markets, but more girls. Education for girls in countries is not a priority. But if you put a meal at that school, the parents parents will send their girls to school. You know, girls go to school are less likely to get married at an early age, less likely to have as many kids and heres the other benefit girls and boys go to school learn how to read and write, become illiterate and become the future leaders of these countries. These developing countries will not develop within illiterate population. When i thought Donald Trumps budget and he zeroed out the Mcgovern Dole School Feeding program, i was flabbergasted. That is the best of america. By the way, the food that is served in the schools, some is produced here because we dont want to disrupt markets where you can buy things locally but that is to me represents what i believe this country is all about. Ill tell you one story i visited did the Mcgovern Dole School Feeding program many years ago in a Community Called swatter which is a displaced community in columbia. I remember this young mother introduced me and the ambassador to her 11yearold son. Every day in the islam one of the armed actors comes through, the guerrillas, rightwing military and they asked me this 11 yearold son to give over to him them. They say to me if you give them, we will give something you cannot do, we will give them food every day. I said im so close to giving up my 11 yearold boy to one of these armed groups but now i dont have to because of what the people of United States have provided. We talk talk about National Security all the time and mr. Trump says that his budget is the National Security budget. Let me make a suggestion the term National Security, the definition of National Security, needs to be expanded. It needs to mean more than the weapons that we have in our nuclear arsenal. It needs to mean more than the number of military bases we have around the world. It needs to mean things like batting stream hunger, make sure every Single Person in the United States has access to good nutritious food and is not food insecure because i think food ought to be viewed as a fundamental right for every human being on this planet, it ought to mean a job, better in her infrastructure, 1000 other things to improve the quality of life for people. I think this is the time that likeminded people need to get together and steal this discussion because if not, budgets will be passed that are heavy on increased military expenditures and Everything Else gets cut. This is the time to engage because if not youll see a farm bill that will block the granting snap and more hurdles for people to jump through in order to put food on the table. This is the time to engage because the child nutrition programs, School Feeding programs, programs for elderly are under attack. Were even having a debate in washington about lowering nutritional standards in school. Honest to god, it would be laughable if it werent so tragic. Sometimes theres a disconnect between what is talked about in washington and what goes on back home. Somebody had said to me one time, that kids dont like to eat apples, that they throw them away at lunch. I went to the school where they told me that were doing that. I asked how many liked apples. Everyone razor hand. When i asked who doesnt like apples, one kid raised his hand. Im being told you throw away your apples. Can someone tell me why you throw away the apples . He raised his hand and said by the time i get to the line to get my lunch, ive got ten minutes eat so i. E. My sandwich really quickly, i take a bite of the apple, i cant bring it to class because they tell me its disruptive and i throw it away. So if you have three or four minutes to eat would you eat your apple . Absolutely. I visited school with George Mcgovern when he was still alive in the town of my district where this was before the upgrade in the Nutritional Feeding Program and i had the sloppiest of the sloppy joes you could ever see. It looks like an oil spill, soggy franchise and an apple and this was a group of second or third graders and the person who was overseeing the meal said the kids wont eat apples. George mcgovern that you have a knife, give them a knife, cut the apple and all the kids ate the apple. People said thats amazing. Some of these kids are losing teeth, it hurts to bite into an apple. Know your audience. Those are the kind of things that are so readily understandable when youre working in the field, when youre in schools, when youre working closely on these programs. Theyre not so clear here in washington, im sad to say. Its important that you engage all of us in the coming weeks and months so that we continue to try to move forward and not go backwards. Its too important. Ill finish with this, some of people say im a bleeding heart i will tell you, honestly my heart does bleed for people that i bump into that are hungry. When you see a child that is hungry, it breaks your heart. When you see a seat Senior Citizen who is regularly going without food because theyre trying to afford their prescription drugs in their food, it breaks your heart. But we can fix it and so i believe we can and hunger in our lifetime, not only in our country but around the world. We just need to have the political will. Thank you for having me here. [applause] were going to do some q and a. Tentative mcgovern will stay with us and we have two microphones please come up and fire away. We have about 15 minutes for q and a. I noticed that you have some good panels coming up so the intellectual heft of this conference will increase once im off the state but any questions on this or anything else . I got with Johns Hopkins student there. Thanks for the talk, it was great. I was wondering in your debates with colleagues on the other side. Have you found any arguments or types of arguments effective and if not been seen shifting the tone of the conversation . Ive had a lot of what i found what works with some of my skeptical colleagues his stories. Were constantly handing people pages of statistics and data which is important. Sometimes members of congress have lost their human ability to feel. When i feel 42 Million People are hungry in this country, its hard to wrap your arms around that. I talk about an individual story , individual child i met or an individual Senior Citizen i met when i meant on a meals on wheels tour, begins to change things. A lot of those off the record conversations im having with some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the conversations are now turning to look, i get it weve got to do something but what can we cut and what we reform so that we can say that we cut and reform something. Im trying to say, well, theres no place to cut. A dollar 40. Person. Meal, what are you in a cut to . A dollar 20 . The problem is this for many years weve allowed this perception to grow and that the population who benefits from our nutrition programs are somehow undeserving or somehow, their goal in life is to be poor enough to be on snap. Or that these when there is abuse of the program, and sometimes there is but its minuscule compared to any other government program, we exaggerate it. We find that youre abusing the program, everybody must be of using the program. That has been been reinforced on talk radio and reinforce on fox news, its reinforced on each of the floor. There is a base out there that has bought into that. One of the challenges we have right now is getting members of congress to go back to their particular base and say, wait a minute. I actually looked at this and some of these perceptions are wrong and to take a stand based on that. I dont think the situation is hopeless. I do think we have a hell of a fight ahead of us but i think we can win these fights. Its an interesting coalition of people who are coming together. We have farmers, people and industry, people in the medical profession, we have new players, shafts coming up and advocating on these programs but stories, reallife stories are the best way to move people. This is a followup but you talked about what you can do about your colleagues. You also mentioned building the will for the kind of change that we need. When we talk about the public believes is undeserving, criminally crimes, reproductively prodigious, what is it what kind of stories are helpful they are . It really is the public that makes the difference for representatives like you . Absolutely. For example, i met with the group of doctors recently who were talking about this issue and they handed me a nice report that they did and i said this is great but what i suggest is that they represented different parts of the country. Go back to your home stay, go back to your congressional district, bring in some of the beneficiaries of some of these nutrition programs, go visit your local representative and maybe do a little press conference. Not a threatening press conference but heres the program, heres the benefits, heres why its important and heres why were asking congresswoman or congressman to support it. To set the stage and raise local public awareness. If theyre going to vote to cut these programs then you want that group to go back and do the same thing. There needs to be an increase in level of political activism on this issue. We need to step it up. If not, i think were in danger of going backwards. I said to a group of faithbased leaders that came to see me who did a bunch of visits, priests, ministers, rabbis and they visited one member of congress who i know is particularly difficult to deal with on these issues and i asked how the meeting went. They said good, we made our case and we said that were going to pray for him and we hope for the best. And then i said, what happened. Then we said goodbye. Well, you know, im not the one to say this but every once in a while you can say, go to hell if youre going to do bad things. [applause] peer needs to be some meaningful pushback when people try to again make hunger worse in this country. Ill consider it a victory on this next farm bill if we dont make hunger worse in this country. I want to eliminate it but i understand the political realities. But lets not make it worse, lets not increase it. How hard can that be . How difficult is that to explain back home . Yetthat is going to be a tough goal to achieve. My question is about native americans and other groups of people who are isolated from nutrition and basically buying out of Grocery Stores in cases of native American Indians and their sometimes wear at the age of 18, many of them develop diabetes because of that. It seems to me there should be partnerships between government and industry to solve this. We have amazon and walmart shipping food, why not government partner with industry to send nutrition into these areas to seniors who are set in and other people who are isolated from Good Nutrition. We absolutely should. Theres no reason why we shouldnt. When it comes to food deserts, i visited some of the stores that people purchased in and their small, they dont have refrigeration, they dont have the space to add in more nutritious options. We ought to incentivize or provide the funding to help some of these little local businesses expand so that food can be there. Any kind of outofthebox, public, public, private partnership to get better nutrition to people, im all for. I always tell people that the biggest struggles with regard to Food Insecurity and we have some serious issues in urban areas but so does rural areas where in transportation is different, there arent many places to get food. We absolutely should. That may cost some money up front but i would argue with you that every step we take in the direction of better nutrition, you are going to lower healthcare costs. Its dramatically this is a win win win win. Part of the problem in washington is the way we do our budgeting on the issue of hunger and Food Insecurity this is not one committee, its multiple committees. The administration is not one agency, its multiple agencies multiple agencies. The coordination isnt there. I tried unsuccessfully for eight years to get president obama to do a white house conference on food nutrition and hunger. I brought the idea that bringing the best minds together, locking them in a room and things are not getting out until we have a comprehensive holistic plan to fix this problem, to solve it and go out there and hold people to account to implement it. I thought that would be a good step to take. It didnt happen. You know, i dont know whether i want this administration to do that or not but the point of the matter is we need a plan. When you go to war, you have a plan. Although, i dont we have a plan for syria but to put that aside the bottom line is you wont be successful without a plan. Im speaking im thrilled to be able to suggest this to you personally. You call them food swamps because there is food that is bad. Second, why not create within congress a school food they where everybody goes home to him his or her constituency, finds one of the poorer schools and has to eat lunch with the kids. I think thats a good suggestion. I wish i had talked to you before and i couldve suggested that. I think its a good idea. You can get elected to congress and never visit a school meal program. You can get elected to congress and never go on a meals on wheels visit or talk to anyone who benefits from it. You can get elected to congress and never to anybody on snap. I think, the assumption that because you get elected to congress that you know everything, is just wrong i hate to burst your bubble here but intelligence is not always a prerequisite for getting elected to congress. The way you combat ignorance is that we need people locally to bring us in. Invite us to the schools, invite us us to the food bank, invite us to meals on wheels, invite us to hospital emergency room where there noticing an uptick in hunger and Food Insecurity related illnesses. I met a woman two years ago, an elderly woman in the hospital, because she was taking her medication on an empty stomach when the medication said take with food but she didnt have the money. So, i think, that would be a great idea. I really do. My name is lelah. Im a graduate student at george mason and you spoke about the need for a foodbased policy. How do you envision that happening . That would make a nice paper for a class project [. When i get on the Agriculture Committee i represented a rural and suburban district. I got redistrict it and now i have a lot of rural areas in massachusetts too, lots of farms. I understand the connections here that you all know. Everythings related here. We we need to support our farmers, we need to make sure that we have a 50 state farm policy, Sustainable Agricultural in every state in this country. Its important. Its a security issue, its a food safety issue but its also a nutrition issue. We need to better integrate nutrition in our educational system. Learning about Good Nutrition at an early age and developing those good habits at an early age is easier to ensure that youre going to follow that through your life the developing better nutritional app that at my age. Its tough to change. Understanding that everybody has a role to play in this issue. Not as elected officials but secondary leaders, its a local issue, hospitals and theres a veteran component and a military component. Were getting complaints from the military that the paper were sending who want to join the armed forces are way overweight. There was a time when it was the opposite. These discussions one of the reasons i wanted this white house conference was i needed somebody who had the authority to put all this together, to put the pieces together and connect the dots. I think there are a lot of thinking a lot of people in this room who are doing that but i think we need to have that kind of approach. Jane hannigan with everett nutrition. Nutrition is my background and Public Health. I wanted to say thank you for your efforts because im a Firm Believer that nutrition can be medicine or poison, including the lack thereof or the presence of nonnutrient dense food. I wanted to say thank you for your effort. Thank you very much and i appreciate all of you being here. [applause] great stuff. I feel inspired. So, we are just in time for our next, id like to invite the speakers for our next panel to come to the stage and will get set up here. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i would like to introduce you all to our moderator for the first panel of the morning, got favor. He is getting situated here, scott is a familiar face in food policy circles and many of you have history with him. He works for the Environmental Working Group as Vice President of Government Affairs and in that capacity many consumer and Public Health advocates, myself included, know him know him as a leader on issues like dmo and regulatory form. Other members of the audience will recognize scott for his time at the Grocery Manufacturer Association and as it so happened when scott was at gma, they were a a partner for the food policy partner and then he left and cfa was on its own. It can be a coincidence. Without further ado, got favor. Thank you. [applause] thank you all. What a terrific are an allstar panel and its always an honor to share this stage with jim mcgovern. Probably a group that needs no introduction but ill do a quick introduction and asked my speakers to spend a couple of minutes talking about what this administrations food policy priority should be. It going down the line, rick frank, michael jacobson, joe levitt, susan pittman. Why dont we just go straight down the line here and spend a couple of minutes talking about what you think this administrations food policy priority should be and will get you guys with some life polling and you can help us answer those questions as well. Thanks so much. My name is rick frank and ive been here about 40 years. I was at the first food National Policy which was called the golden carrots for those of you who remember ellen half and the tavern in where it was founded. I called my few moments of brief remarks the swinging pendulum, the inevitable correction of eight years of barack obama. What im im going to say, you might not like. Its my explanation for why its going to happen. The Obama Administration was dedicated to sound science, except when that wasnt convenient. Frequently policy emanated from the president of the united state, the first lady of the united state, and on occasion the staff of the United States. How about an example . Dietary guidelines. In 2010, fairly balanced, did a good job. 2015, there were no industry people on the dietary guidelines Advisory Committee. This was staffed and packed with a highly liberal agenda. What did we get out of it . We got recommendations from the Advisory Committee far outside anything we had ever seen in the dietary guidelines, sustainability, not a bad thing but certainly not within the dietary guidelines. How about a recommendation for states soda taxes . Is that really need to show up in the dietary guidelines . The answer is no. We also got six years of a war on sugar. Now im old enough to remember the war on that, the war on salt, the war on eggs and we now have the war on sugar. This was done in a way that i have never seen. Maybe joe can comment on this but this was done with mediocre science, at best. No iom report looking at the science, with a procedure that happened so quickly you could hardly blink. Why they wanted to get it done before the next administration so it wouldnt fall within that sixmonth period before the end of the administration. It probably will go into effect, when, well talk about today but its a lousy rule not necessarily on its outcomes but the procedure that it established to set up a drv for added sugar to total sugar is totally unique, unprecedented and was a war from the first ladys office. The pendulum will swing back to the right, whether we like it or not. Thats whats going to happen. Less regulation, less activism, less funding, look at the key players, trump, price, purdue and gottlieb. I dont think the people in the rooms have a whole lot of heart looking forward to the next four years. You had a whole lot of fun the last eight. This month, is general support among everybody for food safety. Menu labeling, may be okay, maybe not okay but probably okay, generally a white support. Biotech for the first time strong support. You did see some of that coming out of obama. The Regulatory Environment rollback some stuff. There is going to be an increase in state and local activity, why . Because theyll theyll be somewhat of an application from washington when that happens, it goes to the state and local governments, which is a good good idea and those are the percolators of new ideas. Class action suits will continue and the only other matters i would mention that could impact all of this are import tariffs and the hiring freeze. Conclusion shift back to less robust, and i think this is a natural and inevitable consequence of eight years of a barack obama. Thank you. I disagree with everything rick said [about all the reasons but i do agree with him on whats gonna happen. Between the Trump Administration and congress this is a disaster for anybody who cares about Health Environment and civil rights. Scott, you asked what should the policies be with the Trump Administration. Thats kind of an irrelevant question. You dont want to look down that whole but what there will be but what rick was suggesting is it going to be is deregulatory, not adjusting public Health Issues and we felt this mostly in the fda and i dont know what theyre going to undo but a big thing is the budget. Trumps skinny budget proposed roughly a billion dollars reduction in fda budget, for the fda. That will be devastating. The fda will be paralyzed and it wont be able to do any kind of enforcement, initiate new regulations and so on. Even if they had full funding, theyre very important things that the fda is on the drawing board that wont get done. One of the most worrisome is the fdas proposed sodium targets. If we could reduce the sodium its mostly from salt and its familiar to everybody, filled Familiarity Breeds disinterest. People dont understand how dangerous high levels of sodium in the american diet are. If we can reduce sodium time to buy 50 that save close to a hundred Thousand Lights a year. Its just extraordinary. Far more damage than practically anything else in the food supply put together. The fda might just let those proposed targets languish or could resend them. There are some unsaved Food Additives, like aspartame and who dies, that im pretty confident the fda will be even less aggressive in rooting out dangerous Food Additives. Though its hard to be less aggressive aggressive because theyve never been very aggressive at all. Theres a category of those that are generally recognized as safe like vinegar but those the Chemical Industry crams Everything Possible into that graph category instead of going through the food additive route. I dont think this fda will revise the graph category and how it regulates them. Something on fdas agenda was front of package labeling, simple nutrition symbols like a smiley face or a green dot on the healthy food and either nothing or read. Dot on the unhealthy foods. Lots of schemes around it. I can imagine this a ministration moving along on that front. Food industry is largely opposed to that. So, things that are going to happen for many of us in this room. First, many of us will be fighting everything we can that congress is proposing and the administration will push for. I hope well see a lot more grass roots activism in cities and states pushing for gardens and cooking classes in schools. Getting different labeling laws adopted. Many National Groups will be looking at the state level as rick suggested. We have a bill in congress that would require warning note on died foods, foods died with yellow five and so on that affect kids behavior. Also, more litigation that the number of i dont know the exact figures but maybe you know rick the number of class action against food when the federal government doesnt enforce, keep the Food Industry under control theyre going to try everything they can to trick us into buying their products. Class actions are part of the answer. It may be in some perspectives itll be exciting for years and it will be certainly interesting, i know many lobbyists will be very busy up on capitol hill and in the agencies but i retain a little bit of optimism that will make progress. Thank you very much. Im going to take a different task. I worked at fda for those who dont remember me because im an old guy by now. I worked there for 25 years i started in 1978 which 78 which meant i lived through every president ial transition since the one from carter to reagan. Each one of them has this unique aspect, each one of them also has a lot of commonalities. The assistant director last time we went from democrat to republican from the clinton to the george w. Bush administration. I came up with three tran nine that should be the highest priorities. The highest priority is the value and embrace of the fdas mission as leading Consumer Protection and Public Health agency in america. An agency that literally affects every single american, everything will day. The importance of the fda to america cannot be understated. Number two, taking it on correctly starts with leadership i think Scott Gottlieb is an excellent choice to head up fda. He served in fda, he understand the mission of the fda, he was a protege of Mark Mcclellan who has always was always been a strong supporter of the fda and i think the experiences that elected him as commissioner will hit the ground running. I work for every fda commissioner over 20 years and when he knew commissioner comes in that has never known the fda, its a long learning curve. This is somebody who will start much more rapidly. Im very optimistic about that selection in todays time. Also, want to recognize steve was performed admirably as acting commissioner as a second time in that stint and i hope that distinguish background for terry him over will be one of scott god please. Finally, as this is been mentioned already as important is funding. The fda is unlike most federal agencies that almost most of the money goes to pain the people who work there. When budget cuts come, it drops. All of the fda does starts with the people that work there. The alliance for the stronger fda has been in place now for over a decade. Bipartisan consumer groups and Industry Groups alike and have been successful in making the impression on key appropriators is good to be here just before righetti the conversation went to say minor spoiler alert you may have heard something to have already heard prior to this but i will just go through my remarks anyway and think it is fair to say that u. S. Politics has elevated to a new level and in a heated conversation food policy has taken a backseat trying to end debate what will happen with no telescoping and raising with food policyowner themselves. But food and how is grown house and enormous impact we have heard a little bit of it here already today but then based on cost and need with those standards and funding requirements. Trump has a vision to renegotiate trade deals and growth through exports. Making emigration major part of his efforts of ways that are yet to be determined. And expecting regulations and policies to delay or fall as has already been mentioned as governments will take matters into their own hands. With gardens and other opportunities we will see increasing activities among Community Groups to be successfully replicated across the country. We know policy plays an Important Role especially for the vulnerable populations with individuals and families and their communities. So we should have a conversation around these issues. And for everybody to becoming gauged and be reactivated. And to make improvements as well. Every american eats. Three times a day for the most part. And then to ride 11 of a significant portion of the gdp. To the collective quality of life. So improvement of health to help keep my country secure and prosperous for future generations. Dalai the significant changes to food policy while with that that trump is intended to do that which is opposite of what obama did with the relaxation of the reversal. File we all activates around the issues. Faugh its looking at best practices to engage in a conversation to pursue opportunities and interest thinking blair we might want to see improvement. That did and nutrition policy added impacts from consumers and nurses and doctors they should be Priority Issues to access to food and nutrition could be a bipartisan effort. Given some of those early signals i think we should not be encumbered by those past approaches how to approach what is going on as an opportunity with new ways to Work Together to share values and opportunities. We have passed our experts to opine on the food policy priorities now we will ask for your help and thomas will help me to make sure this works. Answer the question what should be the food policy priority and thomas will explain how you can respond. Xx can either text a letter. I can give you another 10 seconds. Hong berger, a food safety, nutrition added with funding, so one area parishes agreement to continue to employ made the food modernization safety act. How can this illustration continue to make progress and what challenges will they face as they continue to implement . When we were at fda putting the regulations through they had a dual priority approach for food safety because it was not practical when that happened and. And they had that exactly right. And with that implementation. And then looking at that food Safety System as a whole picking on those things that matter. I think the inspections that fda could not do that alone to be a strong advocate that is part of the funding picture as the larger scope. It is a lost opportunity. One of the things that was not completed is guidance documents to implement. I think everybody is hopeful help will to understand how budget cuts to interfere with add ability of the agency. The way the budget works is almost all money goes, it is not like nih where the money goes outside. That is important but if the inspectors are employees so that big bump up so the fda has started to train its own folks along the way so the 1. That is concerned to be as rigorous so they have plans to do that but they also need money to do that. So that is a questionable followthrough. And then it takes four or five years at least to get those inspections. Guest to add anything rather could be bipartisan agreement . With the industry and budget budget budget is that strong enforcement we will let those tainted peanuts produced and watch that go through. Nothing has changed in the past 20 years. Food safety. I dont think that will change but history suggest for what they regulate . You will see a fair amount of the enforcement. So those that to release day letter urging retailers for the accountability act. And for those congressional approval. And to talk about the Regulatory Reform. But uh bills that the house passed is a 48 page single space built for fun i urge to be ready to try to read it. Windows hurdles and they have to be overcome to adopt regulations. And to paralyze the government. Across every regulatory front. Said to fly through the house now to the senate in they will tone down a little bit and trump will undoubtedly sign the bill and the democrats will filibuster. But the organizations are urging industry even though it is a member of the trade associations like the chamber of commerce to support that reiterate accountability act. Ever like to amend what i said in the beginning. Is a couple loved driving forces and with scientific research. And that is a continuing pressure. And then to resist that for a while. That then people will understand there is a real problem that has to be dealt with. That is a major silence force. Will we have seen is a more suppressed Food Industry. The natch the National Food companies and by a catering to people who are more concerned about Public Health. And sometimes mentioning nestles or bars or others and all the Big Companies have bought little companies. But then to see somebody from mars like the nutrition facts. Just like the added sugars. So received uh cornucopia of the industry some companies are willing to it met with the 21st century are willing to stick out their neck a little bit. And this administration, you say that maybe we should have nutrition facts labeling but hopefully so we should be supporting doing the right thing . The democratic and Republican Administrations are not equal. I think one opportunity is the administration but that is something that is moving in a direction with a changing food supply with the Regulatory Environment and with that administration what are some things to spur innovation . I think exactly that. So how to you merry up in that agenda . And to spur innovation to help the industry but also to say theyre helping the American Consumers and i would agree many at has stepped forward with some great opportunities to develop programs that have done just that. Through that opportunity that we need so figure out how to marry those together as they are demanding different choices there is the survey called food temperance america. So right before the elections but what is interesting to us in the early years what do people think about Government Intervention . Do people like up primary shoppers . And with that onus to be put on individual choice. And that was just the beginning when we did our most recent phase and then to create healthier environments. So those that are still interested in favor of all individual choice. So with words like healthy is that where industry may draw a clear line . So that is an opportunity to provide clarity on the food dollars . That one area that will be challenging but i do think that is one area what they need with the science. Should fda define that . No. Getting to the lowest common denominator. When i first came to washington a lady named judy worked in the balls of the ftc writing a definition natural and she was on page 650. And then how they would prescribe that they never see the light of day. And classaction lawyers so what they do is file a lawsuit the negotiated settlement for themselves. Theyre not really trying to make laws. They rarely go after a big company that is capable to fight with their doing it is a way to raise money we have defended many of them. It is amazing how willing they are to roll over. So is that pendulum swinging too far to the right . Obama will take it too far to the left and science be damned. So the republicans not to be outdone makes that impossible to regulate. That doesnt make sense either. Day really think there will be progressive regulations over the next four years . The answer is a resounding no. But washington and should go back and forth people should not be my san laboratory but we should test things to see what works. But it goes too far. Is an over reaction to all of the executive orders that we saw. I think one thing to keep in mind that across of rhetoric legislation but the program is on the of radar screen. But there for it sets the groundwork the policy moving forward not that i think it would be easy or there would be any resolution because you cannot satisfy everybody but one thing bad it would do presumably would pled n end to all the classaction litigation. Is this an enormous diversion. I rather that the blood to food safety and innovation rather than unsettling lawsuits so maybe it is worth it for the greater good. So urging the of letter of the implementation date so should we delay that implementation with the requires requirements of the new disclosure law . Yes. So i would ask for their to be a steady during a period of time to be done procedurally. It was rammed thorough. With the different nutrient if this is the way it can be done politically than bill like the nutrient of the month these things cannot happen that quickly. The one outside concern i know the Congress Said date but theyre not always followed. But we should only have one label change that one Million Dollars is passed onto consumers who need to buy food into two things it is 2 billion. But that nutrition fact deadline july 2018 should be kept for the smaller companys 2019 should be kept. Companies can do it. It is High Pressure but they can do do it to reap the benefits to have those added sugars and then to notice that rulemaking with the research that has accumulated and documenting the harm from the added shares and the naturally occurring sugars like fruits and vegetables. Linking to the gm labeling perhaps forever we have no idea if gm of labeling will happen or how many years it will take to develop the regulation. Is nice to see some of those labels in the marketplace already. The companies are proceeding on the assumption. To ask for a delay did not ask for a change. Number one i am in favor of the extension probably eat it was unrealistic and there are tens of more labels out there some of that will be first but some of that will be last. Long before they changed the industry shin. But the gm o labeling with usda so lets just label it and do it one should not wait for the other should be celebrated to come together. I think theyd delay is reasonable and inevitable and with the time frame to make sense ive had opportunity to work with some companies with those labeling changes there is a lot that does go into it as some representatives may attest to but i do think there is a lot of money with those labeling changes and the companies are willing to move faster than have the opportunity to be leaders but i do agree. So what do you think . So lets go to the next one. With that Nutrition Facts Panel . Should be listed for the ingredients . While you are doing that that, we have about 20 more minutes so lets invite folks and we have an amazing panel to ask your questions as well. [inaudible] allotted intimation to be put on the label . The one to talk about the Digital Solution . It is nice to have more information i dont think that people will use their smart phones to check out the label or the ku are code. It is a nuisance for information that people are not interested in. Anybody else . I think over time it will be more useful. The studies have found that people who care most impacted by Nutrition Information and then have total sugars and total carbohydrates. As the unsteady shows that 35 percent were very confused the ftc would bring case but the fda no problem we move forward anyway. Should that need the only vehicle . Maybe over time. I and a consulting attorney in the boston area but i am concerned about the law pushing the limits of the non delegation doctrine with the voluntary codes of conduct with the bacon the tariff remarks centers. And then incorporated by reference. So what you think that impact of and getting rid of to give that accelerates the rulemaking where folks can adopt a comprehensive set of regulations that is on the federal books to regulate to the detriment of consumers. With the role of private certification with a private certification and with of label claim that should be addressed there is more oversight. National Advertising Organization has been around 50 years to police that area they never admit wrongdoing they justice continue but is the private mechanism how to police advertising. It is more of a philosophy or a guideline. But i think it will slow down all rulemaking as a general matter. There is a number of guidance is some people cannot start printing those labels until the guidance is finished. But that could take months if not years to get back out. So i am not sure it is actually two for one. Not only for major rulemaking for major guy minces that is something to think about but is a very broad range of and how it applies to the program but it is up for negotiation and face it there was a renaissance of major regulations in the physical regulations that i believe will go forward with the timetable you get the headline from the deregulation so they want to spend more time on implementation, then that is a good thing. Two bp paid representative to is impacted greatly by food policy in nutrition to create a movement and is evidenced by the panel as the final Decision Makers with health and wellness . Likewise so continuing to work on the hill to lead the charge of his conversations with the advocacy efforts in the room with those individuals in that leadership position. Most of the major leadership positions have not been filled. So no one has done the way that they think about food in the last decade than mrs. Obama is hard to imagine someone playing that role to have an enormous ability to reach them without lecturing them or having them feel they were told or forcing them which is wanting them to rethink the. She still has a line of soleil with the organizations. Idol think we should assume it is this more policy. With numerous other people with their foes philosophy but a larger thing going on society. But those successors play with their smart phones medical women are getting to the medical schools and to have a much greater role in is society that women have had in the past. Just up with the video games. [laughter] to have a point that was simply good policy is not male or a female issue coming in as commissioner the calling card was nutrition. And a forerunner of what we see today. More with the longterm health. Looking at the budget of Health Care Costs to say it could be brought down so again there is is the is opportunity the in any of ministrations if you think about it the right way. I am a doctoral student of Public Health and i was a food scientist back when the vermont gm o labeling with through not so much because of the labeling but the distribution just for one state so both susan and michael mentioned the increase the states Global Initiative had to address concerns that to be mutually exclusive for conflicting labels also allowing for a source of innovation . I think that is what will happen with the activity at the national level. Maybe take the edge cmo labeling as an example is challenging to implement that the state levels and abb will see another type of pattern happening. What type of activity has good results are bad results before we had nutrition labeling basically they went after the claims and there were enough cases and rules that ultimately they said enough we will agree to nutrition labeling and to the standards congratulations that was really well done. But gmo is of precautionary principal guilty until proven innocent. It is hard to prove that except over a long period of time the voters over one state trying to compose Something Like that industry may alternately say enough mandatory gm will rule t6 rule is not a good idea this time it is not a good model for regulating so our response to that would be federal preemption that we have the claims that goes beyond that for the things like gcs . T6 with props 65 but that could work or be dangerous in my opinion. I do think it is important to Pay Attention to see what is happening as you are a representative of the industry to see if they are happening at the state and local levels. As us strategy if think it is valuable maybe we dont like one specific instance or another but the calories on restaurant menus was very effective resaw in your city during the first regulation with just calories than philadelphia and seattle requires also on the printed menus and cards and saturated fat and trans fat and sodium no restaurants are clamoring for federal regulations to preempt the state differences that the state level with the laboratory of democracy was ultimately a very powerful way to bring industry to the table and that was something good civic dimension labeling with your introduction that it is under a provision of the Affordable Care act who knew that it would be so hard. Why you think we will see that as opposed to something that would happen . Whether the fastfood chains are the casual dining location i represent three large players in that space when saw that opportunity and did not recommend to urged delay but they went three over three to say lets go ahead and do it mike was saying how progressive they are becoming if you can wear a white hat to support you then you can support what he wants but then your nutrition profile is not quite as positive i am not sure necessarily is because you are a good person butted is what you have to sell. But mars and pepsi in leslie have been pretty supportive of certain nutrition measures the dont exactly cater to the health food market. And that was the strategy that these are macro issues . And how do we as a responsible company corrects but then looking how to implement those to benefit. Strategically it is a treat. Not a snack but the philosophy of the industry is that it is a treat that if addressed properly is fine for the overall diet but there is a wide variety of offerings from water, sugar feet, and jews or pepsi said they are diversified enough just about anything because they have a product to meet that the ec that maturing growth of industry. And coming back to say he wants them competing on the basis of nutrition and think we are seeing that with innovation to foster that competition with todays demands. Good morning im from Johns Hopkins university is seems to me to be quite optimistic about food safety enforcement rather than creating new regulation so given those announcements that they are concerning for example, to affect a the water and wastewater which would affect the Water Quality in rule communities and the epa with their enforcement capacities so why do you think food safety would not be affected by the same type . I think it is because that law was developed as a very inclusive way to have both consumer and industry support and it was implemented with the regulations itself in the same way with Fresh Produce but again i think if i was to draw the map of Regulatory Reform will be based on explosiveness and workability tied to high standards of is been a winning formula when people are complaining you dont get that backlash. So as a safety rules go into any fact do you foresee any challenges . So congress will have to Start Testing Irrigation Water to make sure the water meets certain standards. My crystal ball in is murky. [laughter] will there be any enforcement or pressure to do this . You have to take the of longterm pressure never before regulated by the fda they will enlist an enormous amount of state power. Roe was not built in a david need real the produce rule was is the time to think about implementation of the initiatives already taken and then tweak them along go way. Why not . The. We have a few more minutes left states and now beginning to get active around questions of Food Additives to bat banned chemicals and packaging. Is a burgeoning area of interest like california or vermont the fda or epa is not doing its job so some of their actions may have local impact irrational impact may be some of that could spur the Regulatory Agency nationally. Is that an area the Food Industry rather than losing those fights in states california could come up with the system to reach consumers . This is one area whether grass or Food Additives is a barrier to the state doing very much if it is a particular heavy metal that is showing up in the product and california decides to take action you may see the industry with similar concerns to establish those background levels so what overarching thought would be dont view the next few four or eight years as pressing and horrible but as an opportunity. Dont yell and scream about everything that the fda commissioner ndp a sole pit cant choose your fights. Lets go back to sound science. Not fringe science but sound science is the rule then make the republicans make them live with the science to stay within the middle of that i think you saw some deviations the last two years of obama. So get the pendulum back to the middle were science will rule for cannot politics. Do agree epa should remove. I know nothing about that. [laughter] we have a few minutes left deal have parking spots for the group . This administration and congress is a total disaster from of perspective of the public some will have a conservative a concern about this issue but to cover from Different Directions politically and with the litigation of the rollbacks better unfounded. Keep fighting. Having lived through many changes quitting every time period has its own opportunity i would urge people to look for those and rally around those and again use this as the time to implement those gains every hand is a winner and every and is of a loser. I would say like i stated early on if it is important for those discussions of food policy i am not sure has yet happened remains to be seen so that is to think about not a traditional Republican Administration i dont know what happened but taken as an opportunity with those issues are important to everybody in this room to think about those opportunities to create a path for word. We have got facilities issues and we have infrastructure urban aging expenses infrastructure in our urban core. We have got kids with the multiplicity of challenges and maybe even more than in Barbara Jones as they were at least we have more Impact Communities and on top of that we have systems that are pushing teachers out, pushing Great Teachers away. Part of the good news is that Great Teachers can get jobs everywhere now regardless of color and dorothy baughn was able to go on and work at langley and help get a man on the moon but the challenge is now off fighting for equal, Great Teachers, great curriculum, great facilities and our urban core is a very challenging one. Thats a portion of what anne holton had to say about education challenges. You can see her entire, starting at 8 00 eastern cspan. And now Bbc Parliament reviews the major events that occurred in the house of commons in the United Kingdom since the beginning of the year. Topics include the london terrorist attack, the official start of the brexit negotiations and u. S. Uk relations under the Trump Administration. Nasa heard about the uks response to Donald Trumps anticipated state visit