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New York Senator Calls for 'E. coli Eradication Act'

By PritzkerLaw

You can add U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York to the list of federally elected officials who are gung-ho about reforming America's faltering food safety system -- a system that we here at Pritzker Olsen Attorneys have been decrying for years as we represent victim after victim of food poisoning.

As a member of the Senate Ag Committee, Gillibrand issued a lengthy press release yesterday containing proposed food safety legislation that is sweeping and bold. Many of her planned initiatives were already in discussion, but she adds some new wrinkles -- including a bill she calls the "E. coli Eradication Act.''

The proposed eradication act is a reaction to a New York Times story that found that many large commercial hamburger grinding plants don't test beef trim and scraps for E. coli O157:H7 before they mix it together. A widely accepted industry practice is to gather  low-grade beef ingredients from various far-flung slaughterhouses and mix them together into ground beef without checking first whether they are contaminated. The slaughterhouses like it that way.

Gillibrand's "E. coli Eradication Act'' would require grinders to test the incoming shipments for E. coli and then again after it is ground into hamburger. The pathogen, which can lead to deadly cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) already is banned from finished ground beef.

As things stand now, the Senate is expected to take up a large food safety reform bill and work with authors of an already approved House bill in an attempt to move something to the White House for President Obama to sign before the end of the year.

From Senator Gillibrand's office, here's a summary of other food safety initiatives she is carrying into session:

• Expand access to records, giving the FDA access to the records of all food processing facilities.
• Establish FDA oversight of private high quality testing labs used by food companies to verify their credibility.
• Increase federal investments to give the FDA all the resources it needs to implement comprehensive food safety improvements, especially more inspections.
• Order the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prioritize the hiring of inspectors to protect consumers from contaminated imported food.
• In 2003, when the DHS took over the inspection of agricultural products on the border, the position of 'agriculture specialists' was created.  While the number of people in this position has been slowly increasing, it is still one-third short of the number of specialists needed to test the ever increasing array of agricultural products coming into the country.
• Require federal agencies to notify all schools involved in the federal school lunch program of food recalls and investigations of suspect food so lunch program administrators can keep it from the cafeteria trays of our school children.
• Give the authority to order a mandatory recall of a food product when a company fails to voluntarily recall the product upon FDA's request.  Right now, recalls are only voluntary.  
• Allow the FDA to share confidential information with the public when necessary to protect public health;
• Mandate on-site notification of a recalled product by posting notification in the freezer case or shelving unit of retail grocery stores.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on October 14, 2009 (boomark / email).