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Responding to media reports that workers at the egg facilities linked to a recent nationwide Salmonella outbreak complained about food safety problems, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has written to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking whether these complaints were investigated and whether the agency has a process for reporting safety violations. Grassley acknowledges that USDA places only non-food safety personnel at egg farms to grade the eggs. Still, he asks whether “there is an established process for USDA employees to report food safety concerns to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration, which has the responsibility for food safety] when they fall outside of USDA’s jurisdiction?” According to press reports, two former Wright County Egg facility employees said they told USDA employees that they had observed problems such as leaking manure, rodents and dead chickens at the facilities. They also apparently claimed that USDA employees “would just turn…