U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius joined Colorado governor John Hickenlooper in highlighting food safety during a visit to a Leprino Foods cheese plant in Greeley, Colorado late last week, according to a local press report.
The Greeley Tribune reported that the visit recognized the facility as a “shining example of food safety and innovation that the rest of the industry should be following.” The paper said Sebelius’ remarks focused on how the entire plant was designed with the intent of producing safer food.
Vilsack joined in on the praise, saying: “Sometimes the affordable, safe food supply we have gets taken for granted. But we really should not take for granted facilities like these.”
Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar and representatives from the offices of Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) were all part of the tour, according to the report, but the Tribune noted that reporters were not allowed inside the plant.
The paper noted that “Vilsack and Sebelius are part of Obama’s Cabinet that pushed through the Food Safety Modernization Act, the most sweeping reform of food safety laws in more than 70 years, which was signed into law Jan. 4, 2011.”
