Gillibrand takes aim at tainted food, pushes for E. coli inspections
WASHINGTON — Noting that approximately 5 million state residents — including 360,000 Western New Yorkers — get sick from tainted food each year, Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand said Tuesday that she will be pushing several tough new food safety measures.
Most notably, the New York Democrat introduced legislation that would mandate inspections of ground beef for signs of E. coli bacteria.
She also said she is supporting major food safety legislation that the Senate is expected to consider later this year and calling on the federal government to hire more inspectors for imported food. In addition, Gillibrand is working with her colleagues to find a way to get contaminated food off the market more quickly and to spread the word about food recalls more effectively.
“In America, in 2009, it is unconscionable that food is still going straight to our kitchens, school cafeterias and restaurants without being properly tested to ensure its safety,” said Gillibrand, the first New Yorker on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years. “It’s spreading too many diseases and costing too many lives.”
Asked if mandating E. coli inspections might increase consumer costs, Gillibrand said she would be willing to pay a few pennies more to guarantee that hamburgers are safe.
Gillibrand’s E. coli bill faced a crowded legislative calender and potential objections by agribusiness. Some of her other proposals are at even earlier stages in the legislative process.
She said the food safety proposal that is most likely to move forward this year is the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. That bill would require food-processing facilities to take additional measures to prevent contamination and give the Food and Drug Administration greater access to food industry records and plans.
“We need to do a better job of catching contaminated food before it ever comes close to a kitchen table,” said Gillibrand, who based her estimates on data from the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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