Washington – Families victimized by tainted spinach and peanut butter put a human face Tuesday on recent high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness, urging lawmakers to strengthen federal oversight of the nation’s food supply.
“I can’t protect them from spinach – only you guys can. I can’t,” said Michael Armstrong, as he and wife, Elizabeth, cradled daughters Ashley, 2, and Isabella, 5.
The two girls fell ill – Ashley gravely – in September after eating a salad made with a triple- washed bag of the leafy greens contaminated by E. coli.
That and other incidents of contamination have raised questions not only about the U.S. food supply but also about efforts by the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies to keep it safe.
“I hope these hearings will help alert the American people, Congress and the administration to the seriousness of this issue,” said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. “If it is not taken seriously, these kinds of poisonings can, and will, happen again. Food poisonings will happen to you, to me, and to our children and our pets.”
The safety of food raised domestically was questioned anew last fall when officials traced a nationwide E. coli outbreak to contaminated spinach processed by Natural Selection Foods LLC.
Three people died and nearly 200 others were sickened. More recently, contaminated peanut butter and pet food have been recalled.
“I don’t see the latest string of incidents as aberrations. It’s become a systemic problem, and it calls for systemic solutions,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
DeGette has introduced legislation that would give the FDA and Agriculture Department the authority to mandate recalls, in line with a proposal by the Government Accountability Office. Other legislative efforts include proposals to create a single Food Safety Administration and develop a uniform reporting system to track contaminated food.
In January, the government’s fragmented food-safety system joined a congressional “high risk” list, meaning its inefficiencies leave it vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse.
Fifteen federal agencies administer at least 30 laws pertaining to food safety. The FDA, however, is the main food-safety agency.
A panel of officials from companies involved in the recalls expressed their sympathy, sadness and support for victims of the outbreaks. None said a government-mandated recall would have changed how they dealt, voluntarily, with removing their products from the marketplace.
The popular Peter Pan brand of peanut butter was the subject of a nationwide recall in February after a salmonella outbreak. More than 400 people were sickened, and the recall cost manufacturer ConAgra Foods Inc. between $50 million and $60 million. The company plans to reopen in August the idled plant where the peanut butter was made.
