Foster Farms Salmonella Outbreak Have Health Officials Questioning FDA Tactics

Officials are questioning current food safety laws after two outbreaks of salmonella poisoning linked to Foster Farms may have sickened more than 15,000 people this year.

According to NBC News, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has failed to notify consumers of possible side effects. The department is also being blamed for failing to demand recalls of tainted meat and did not stop producers from shipping meat to store owners, "despite evidence of contamination."

"Based on the available evidence and circumstances, FSIS's response to both outbreaks was insufficient to protect public health," according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts released Thursday.

FSIS stated their department is working to improve salmonella contamination in poultry. Weeks before the latest announcement, the company issued "Salmonella Action Plan," to address the 1.3 million illnesses, which are caused by bacteria. The numbers also took into account the 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths.

"Far too many Americans are sickened by salmonella every year," Elisabeth Hagen, the USDA's undersecretary for food safety, said in a statement. "The aggressive and comprehensive steps detailed in the Salmonella Action Plan will protect consumers by making meat and poultry safer." 

Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause diarrhea, cramps and fever and sometimes chills, nausea and vomiting for up to seven days. Sandra Eskin, the Pew food safety expert who wrote the report, said the FSIS is taking baby steps, but walking in the direction.

"As we dug deeper and looked at the specifics, it became an issue of are we really doing enough to protect public health?" Eskin said. "I think that they have a pretty conservative view of their authority, and they are careful not to stretch that authority. "They need to take the blinders off and have a much broader view."

"Americans eat about 160 million servings of chicken every single day, and about 99.9 percent of those servings are consumed safely," said a statement from the National Chicken Council, according to NBC News.

In June 2012, Foster Farms poultry reportedly sickened 134 people in 13 states. According to reports, officials failed to inform the public about the issue at hand. Health officials mentioned there was not enough information to link the outbreak to a specific product.

"We have to be sure that when we move forward with an enforcement action, that it will stick," Dan Englejohn, assistant administrator of the USDA's Office of Field Operations, said.

In October, a second outbreak sickened 389 people in 23 states, with 40 percent of the victims being hospitalized. FSIS stated the problem was that "several of the outbreak strains were resistant to the most common drugs used to treat salmonella infections."

NBC News reported that part of the problem is that there is no requirement that poultry should be free of salmonella. The report is asking health officials to consider setting limits on salmonella contamination for chickens when they are in the slaughterhouse.

"When more than 500 people are reported sick from two illness outbreaks associated with chicken, the systems we have in place are not working to protect public health," she said. "They need to be seriously reworked."

However some food safety experts argue pushing for new requirements could be considered a "costly and elusive goal."

"Eliminating bacteria entirely is always the goal," Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council, said. "But in reality, it's simply not feasible."

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