Thank you, witnesses.
I apologize. I have another meeting at 1:30, so I'll get through my five minutes.
I want to reiterate a little bit what Mr. Eyking said. He talked about people wanting to use local food and safe food. Having gone through the subcommittee hearings, I've heard that safety comes first and local comes second. It doesn't matter where it comes from; consumers want to know that they have safe food.
I want to thank all of you for helping to emphasize to all of us the significance of the fact that the local abattoirs out there are producing safe products. I don't think that has ever been an issue. We've had a lot of discussion, and I would submit to you that if you were to go around this table, you would get 100% support for having the systems you have in our local communities, because we recognize the significance to your customers and our communities of your actually providing safe, quality food for us.
We've had a lot of discussion about whether there should be one licensing standard for processing in abattoirs or the two we have right now. Could I have quick comments, because I have about three or four questions?