DeLauro, Gillibrand Urge Transparency in USDA Testing

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging the agency to “adopt a policy of greater transparency with respect to the microbiological testing” that the agency collects from meat slaughter and processing establishments. The letter cites a Salmonella outbreak in ground beef announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and notes that investigators “have not identified a single, common supplier” for the affected meat. DeLauro and Gillibrand urge USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to provide data on the samples it collects to “allow companies, government researchers and members of the scientific community to identify links between pathogenic strains” found in meat samples and in patients identified as affected by the Salmonella outbreak. The Congress members request answers to four questions before December 13, 2019, including an identification of which establishments had samples that resulted in positive Salmonella tests.