DeLauro, Slaughter Statement on USDA’s Salmonella Action Plan

WASHINGTON, DC-- Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), two long-time food safety advocates released the following statement today on the Agriculture Department’s Salmonella Action Plan. The representatives met earlier today with representatives of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

“While USDA’s initiative in issuing this plan is to be applauded, the substance falls short in addressing this important public health issue,” DeLauro said. “The Government Accountability Office recently identified major flaws in the proposed poultry slaughter program, so why is USDA proposing we expand the program? Meat is continuing to leave these processing facilities contaminated with Salmonella. We should be fixing the source of the problem, not leaving it up to consumers to guess whether their dinner will send them to the hospital.”

"Our public's health and the safety of the food we eat should be the number one priority of the USDA,” Slaughter said. “I appreciate that USDA is paying more attention to the issue of Salmonella. However, the root of the problem with resistant superbacteria is the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture creating that resistance. I’ll continue to fight for legislation to save eight critical classes of antibiotics for human use.”

Earlier this year, an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg sickened 389 people, with a hospitalization rate of over 40 percent. Instead of temporarily closing the plants where the outbreak began, the USDA allowed the plant – a repeat offender – to continue producing poultry.