Liberal Dems accuse agencies of failing on salmonella response

{mosads}Last year, the CDC tracked another salmonella outbreak involving the same strain of the bacteria that was linked to two Foster Farms facilities. The agency declared that outbreak over in July, after a total of 134 people were infected.

The USDA warned the public about the current outbreak last week. So far it has caused 317 illnesses in 20 states, according to the CDC.

Federal officials have declined to force Foster Farms to recall its products.

The lawmakers write that two outbreaks from the same source is “wholly unacceptable.”

They add that it is the USDA’s food safety office’s “core mission to prevent such outbreaks, as well as quickly and adequately respond to such incidents when they do occur, a regulatory responsibility that [the Food Safety and Inspection Service] appears to have failed to meet in this case.”