House Subcommittee Threatens to Subpoena Labs

WASHINGTON — During a June 12 public Business Meeting, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a vote on the issuance of subpoenas for records in connection with the Subcommittee’s ongoing investigation regarding the safety of the nation’s food supply.

As part of this investigation, on May 1, the committee sent letters to 10 private laboratories that test food products under import alerts, requesting, among other information, records relating to food products that did not meet FDA standards for import into this country. Subpoenas would be sent to nine private food laboratories that failed to provide the requested records to the Subcommittee.

The subcommittee said subpoenas would be sent to the following nine private food laboratories:

• ABC Research Corporation, Gainesville, Fla.
• Michelson Laboratories, Commerce, Calif.
• Certified Laboratories, Plainview, N.Y.
• Central Analytical Laboratories, Metairie, La.
• Northland Laboratories, Northbrook, Ill.
• Strasburger & Siegel, Hanover, Md.
• Microbac Laboratories, Wexford, Pa.
• The National Food Laboratory, Dublin, Calif.
• Analytical Food Laboratories, Grand Prairie, Texas