DeLauro, Slaughter, Marler comment on salmonella outbreak
October 09, 2013 | 06:43 PM
The outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant salmonella strain in the western states from Foster Farms chicken and the recall of Centers for Disease Control personnel to handle the issue despite the government shutdown have led some to relate the case to longstanding food-safety issues.
The outbreak involved 278 people in 18 states, 42 percent of whom were hospitalized.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a former House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, late Tuesday called on Foster Farms to stop shipments of raw chicken and blamed Republicans for cutting CDC funding.
“For the good of public health, Foster Farms should immediately halt shipments of raw chicken until we know exactly what product, or products, is causing this salmonella outbreak,” DeLauro said in a news release.
“The fact that this has been ongoing since July is an outrageous abdication of responsibility by everyone involved. Nearly half of the people exposed to this strain of salmonella have been hospitalized. We cannot waste time when people’s health is at stake.”
“If only Republicans had been adequately funding our food safety response system, instead of, for example, cutting CDC funding by roughly $1 billion since 2010, we may have been better equipped to respond,” DeLauro continued.
“The fact that CDC had to call back furloughed employees who were needed to help investigate the outbreak demonstrates the dangers the Republican shutdown is having on public health. While the House Republican answer may be to bring another bill to the floor to continue funding for the CDC rather than simply re-opening the government, this piecemeal approach is simply inadequate to ensuring that the entire government is functioning properly to protect American consumers.”
DeLauro also said that the situation reinforced her view that the government should have a single food safety agency.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.
House Rules Committee ranking member Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said news reports that some of the cases were resistant to antibiotics proves the merit of her campaign to ban the use of antibiotics in food animals unless they are sick.
“I call on all my colleagues to join the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act to protect the antibiotics we have left,” Slaughter said in a news release.
Slaughter’s bill would ban the routine use of eight classes of antibiotics on healthy food animals.
“Eighty percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are given to healthy food animals, often to promote growth and overcompensate for crowded and unsanitary conditions,” Slaughter said. “As a result, bacteria become resistant to these overused antibiotics, and antibiotic-resistant infections kill tens of thousands of Americans every year.”
Bill Marler
Bill Marler, a prominent Seattle-based food safety lawyer, said in a blog post today that it is “past time” for the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to start recalling the salmonella-tainted chicken.
But he also noted that the situation is complicated “because salmonella, present in a substantial proportion of meat and poultry products, is not an adulterant per se, meaning its presence does not require the USDA to refuse to stamp such meat ‘inspected and passed.’ ”
Proper cooking is supposed to destroy salmonella, but there is always the possibility of cross-contamination as other foods are prepared. Katrina Hedberg, Oregon’s state epidemiologist, said consumers are not to blame, OregonLive reported.
“We’re not seeing an outbreak because people suddenly decided they like to eat their chicken rare,” Hedberg said. “If you're suddenly seeing an uptick in cases, it’s probably because there’s more bacteria.”
The outbreak involved 278 people in 18 states, 42 percent of whom were hospitalized.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a former House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, late Tuesday called on Foster Farms to stop shipments of raw chicken and blamed Republicans for cutting CDC funding.
“For the good of public health, Foster Farms should immediately halt shipments of raw chicken until we know exactly what product, or products, is causing this salmonella outbreak,” DeLauro said in a news release.
“The fact that this has been ongoing since July is an outrageous abdication of responsibility by everyone involved. Nearly half of the people exposed to this strain of salmonella have been hospitalized. We cannot waste time when people’s health is at stake.”
“If only Republicans had been adequately funding our food safety response system, instead of, for example, cutting CDC funding by roughly $1 billion since 2010, we may have been better equipped to respond,” DeLauro continued.
“The fact that CDC had to call back furloughed employees who were needed to help investigate the outbreak demonstrates the dangers the Republican shutdown is having on public health. While the House Republican answer may be to bring another bill to the floor to continue funding for the CDC rather than simply re-opening the government, this piecemeal approach is simply inadequate to ensuring that the entire government is functioning properly to protect American consumers.”
DeLauro also said that the situation reinforced her view that the government should have a single food safety agency.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.
House Rules Committee ranking member Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said news reports that some of the cases were resistant to antibiotics proves the merit of her campaign to ban the use of antibiotics in food animals unless they are sick.
“I call on all my colleagues to join the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act to protect the antibiotics we have left,” Slaughter said in a news release.
Slaughter’s bill would ban the routine use of eight classes of antibiotics on healthy food animals.
“Eighty percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are given to healthy food animals, often to promote growth and overcompensate for crowded and unsanitary conditions,” Slaughter said. “As a result, bacteria become resistant to these overused antibiotics, and antibiotic-resistant infections kill tens of thousands of Americans every year.”
Bill Marler
Bill Marler, a prominent Seattle-based food safety lawyer, said in a blog post today that it is “past time” for the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to start recalling the salmonella-tainted chicken.
But he also noted that the situation is complicated “because salmonella, present in a substantial proportion of meat and poultry products, is not an adulterant per se, meaning its presence does not require the USDA to refuse to stamp such meat ‘inspected and passed.’ ”
Proper cooking is supposed to destroy salmonella, but there is always the possibility of cross-contamination as other foods are prepared. Katrina Hedberg, Oregon’s state epidemiologist, said consumers are not to blame, OregonLive reported.
“We’re not seeing an outbreak because people suddenly decided they like to eat their chicken rare,” Hedberg said. “If you're suddenly seeing an uptick in cases, it’s probably because there’s more bacteria.”
