7-29 news: Meat company coalition calls for U.S. to end Chinese poultry ban

"We will not be able to avoid a serious trade confrontation with China if Congress does not reconsider" its ban, trade lawyer Kevin Brosch said, speaking for the coalition. He added that the USDA should not be barred from evaluating the safety of China's poultry. "We do not prejudge the outcome of that process and we respectfully suggest that this committee should not, either," Brosch said in his testimony.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro argued that trade concerns play too great a role in what should be a public health issue and that the USDA should review its system for approving meat imports, because it cedes too much control over food safety to foreign countries. "When you grant equivalency, you lose most of the control of the process," said DeLauro, who has proposed that the ban continue through 2010.