Adam Putnam on the Smithfield-Shuanghai Deal

Adam Putnam, always a strong proponent for increased food safety, was unable to respond before deadline tomy column on the sale of Smithfield Foods to the largest meat processor in China, ShuanghaiInternational.

But Friday morning he provided a statement to reinforce his commitment:

The United States has a gold standard of food safety, while many other countries struggle with frequent problems," said Florida's commissioner of agriculture and consumer services. "The fact that the largest U.S. acquisition by a Chinese company ever was a food company says much about the global growth opportunities in agriculture and the importance of food security here in our country.

In 2009, when he was a congressman, Putnam co-sponsored the unsuccessful Safe FEAST Act in the House.

Talking about that bill at the time, Putnam said, This legislation includes the key principles we established in the bipartisan legislation I introduced with Congressman Jim Costa, D-Calif., earlier this year. It expands the authority of the Food and Drug administration (FDA) to quickly respond to threats to our nations food supply. It strengthens preventative measures with new science- and risk-based food safety standards. It calls for updated food safety plans within food operations domestically and abroad to identify and prevent potential sources of food-borne illness. And it holds imported foods to American safety standards."

Good man to have on our side right now.