Proposed Bill Would Allow FDA to Probe Feedlots

The Food and Drug Administration would have authority to inspect large feedlots linked to salmonella outbreaks and other foodborne illnesses under the Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act that was reintroduced this week.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-CT., reintroduced legislation that would empower the FDA to investigate feedlots and confinement operations implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks by testing for bacteria and other microbes at the feedlots.

“It is clear that corporate consolidation has negatively impacted the safety of our nation’s food,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “This is compounded by a weak and disempowered FDA, which has few tools to hold corporations accountable, investigate outbreaks, and get contaminated food off the market. Under current law, multinational corporations have the power to stop an FDA foodborne illness investigation in its tracks. That cannot stand.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year, roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases.

DeLauro first introduced the bill in 2019 after a nationwide outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce was tied to produce grown close to a large cattle-feeding operation in Arizona.

DeLauro said corporate consolidation has “negatively impacted the safety of our nation’s food” and claimed the FDA is “weak and disempowered” with “few tools” to get “contaminated food off the market.”

The bill is backed by consumer groups including the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Consumer Reports.