Michael Leavitt, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), is in China to hold talks with the government and sign agreements related to product safety. He told a press conference there that while the issue of unsafe and substandard products from China has been in the headlines in recent months, the US and Chinese governments have been working well in developing protocols that will improve product safety.

Right.

Leavitt’s truths came out when he actually said that it is up to US consumers to take greater responsibility for assuring that the products we purchase are safe. His exact quote: “Consumers can in fact do things that would ensure quality for themselves,” he said. “We encourage them to deal with retailers they trust, to ask those retailers what they're doing and what the process is they're following.”

Last time I checked it was pretty hard for a shopper to determine just where our foods and ingredients are being sourced. Of course, if Country of Origin Labeling actually came to fruition, you and I might have a fighting chance.

The question that we consumers need to ask is whether our federal government is more worried about maintaining trade relations with China than it is about protecting us. It is worrisome that Leavitt (or should I say Bush & Co.) actually thinks that consumers need to take on greater responsibility for product safety, but opposes such initiatives which would give us the information to do exactly that.

Leavitt’s statements and trip makes a mockery of those manufacturers, retailers and trade groups who are insisting for higher food safety standards and fixing the problems at the FDA. There is no doubt we consumers may have to protect ourselves, but the question is from whom and what?