Lawmakers say safety fixes require push from Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixing the nation’s food safety woes may not be possible this year unless President Barack Obama makes it a top priority, a senior lawmaker warned after a hearing Thursday exposed loopholes in government oversight that contributed to the ongoing national salmonella outbreak.

“I hope President Obama puts the weight of his office behind this,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said. “It’s going to require them to be actively pushing on this. This is a matter that we can’t continue to put off.”

The salmonella outbreak — blamed on a company that produces only about 1 percent of the nation’s peanut products — has sickened at least 575 people in 43 states. At least eight have died. More than 1,300 foods that used ingredients from Peanut Corp. of America’s peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga., have been recalled.

Obama said earlier this week he’s not satisfied with how the Food and Drug Administration is handling food safety and his administration is reviewing the agency’s operations.

“Food safety is a top priority for the administration, and President Obama looks forward to working with Sen. Harkin and other members of Congress ... to make our food supply safer,” White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Thursday.

At a Senate hearing Thursday on the salmonella outbreak, lawmakers reacted angrily when told that food companies and state safety inspectors don’t have to report to the FDA when test results find pathogens in a processing plant.

That leaves federal officials in the dark.

“I’d like to see some people go to jail,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said. “A fine is a cost of doing business. When somebody thinks they’re going to go to jail if they don’t report something and clean it up, that’s an entirely different matter.”

Dr. Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA’s food safety program, said companies are required to inform the FDA if they discover contamination after they’ve shipped a product, but not if the food is still at the plant. States forward reports on inspections they conduct for the FDA, but are not required to send inspections performed under their own laws.

Also Thursday, the Agriculture department suspended Peanut Corp. from participating in government contract programs for at least a year. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also removed Stewart Parnell, president of the company, from USDA’s Peanut Standards Board.