News outlets reported that, because of the most recent ground beef recall that sickened 14 people last week due to an antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) are petitioning for federal action on the increasing threat to public health from these bacteria.
Slaughter issued a statement saying, “When we go to the grocery store to pick up dinner, we should be able to buy our food without worrying that what we put on our plates is exposing out families to dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. How much longer is the federal government going to wait before waking up to the public health threat, looking quite literally, under our nose? We have a duty to protect the public health, and frankly the foot-dragging we are seeing on this issue here in Washington is legislative malpractice.”
The CSPI is lobbying from a different perspective, petitioning the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to declare that specific antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella are adulterants, effectively making them illegal in meat and poultry products. The CSPI said, “That declaration would trigger enhanced testing for these dangerous pathogens, and could minimize their entry into commerce.”
As a Shippensburg personal injury lawyer, I know how important it is to ensure that the food found in stores is safe for consumption due to past experience with food safety recalls. If you’ve suffered adverse health symptoms because of consuming a contaminated or otherwise defective food product, call a personal injury lawyer in your city to discuss the legal avenues open to you.