Quotes from Mike Johanns

I never would have believed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate that the U.S. government could buy GM without a hearing, with no vote, yes or no. There are billions and billions of dollars at stake here.

We're going to do everything possible to make sure that food safety is always paramount, and that we work with the industry as aggressively as we can to make sure that we're paying attention to the food-safety issues.

Science is the international language, so when we are able to convince countries that good decision-making for human health and animal health is based upon science, that's a real success story for us.

Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults. After growing up on a dairy farm, everything in life seemed easy

We asked ourselves and the world to base decisions on good science, and I really believe the United States can be the leader in delivering that message to our international trading partners.

People enjoy our meat and our poultry, as I do as a consumer.

The meat and poultry industries are outstanding industries, and it's going to be a very natural fit for me.

We had Taiwan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Oman open their markets to our beef, and we're excited about that.

In 75 foreign countries, we have a presence in the USDA.

The goal is to normalize trade relations based on sound science and consumer protection.

One of the things that I always say about bioterrorism, whether it's ourselves at the federal level, folks at the state level, or folks in the private industry, we've done many great things, especially since 9/11.

The world is really figuring BSE out, and that's positive.

Our job is to ensure that meat and poultry products are safe, wholesome, accurately labeled for the benefit of the American consumers, and to make sure that they are in compliance with all federal laws.

Producers are so much better-educated in issues related to terrorism.

This president has said this has to be a priority for our nation, protecting our food supply from terrorist acts, so he continues to provide the funding that is necessary.

Growing up on a dairy farm, you certainly learn discipline and a commitment to purpose.

The industry is becoming very ready for animal identification.

Fortunately, when it comes to meat and poultry, I have the really wonderful situation of having producers and processors that produce and process a very high-quality product.

In beef trade issues, we base our decisions upon science.

In this day and age when we do so much business in foreign trade, we need the ability to identify trace an animal very quickly, identifying where it came from - where it has been, and where it is at today.

When one cow was found with BSE in 2003, many of our trading partners closed their borders to our beef.

On the professional side, those 18 years on the farm instilled my love for agriculture.

Food safety involves everybody in the food chain.

There is a tremendous amount of support for the approach we have taken, which again is to base our decisions on risk analysis and thoughtful scientific process.