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Following
the massive Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. beef recall,
Hillary Clinton listed a series of food safety actions she
would take as president, including a 50 percent increase
in USDA's food safety budget and a ban on slaughtering downer
cattle.
In a statement on her campaign Web site, Clinton said she
would:
- Conduct
an immediate audit of the nation's food safety systems
to locate weaknesses and gaps
- Increase
USDA food safety funding by more than 50 percent so that
inspectors have the resources and staffing they need to
do their jobs
- Move
toward a single Food Safety Administration responsible
for all food products
- Give
USDA and FDA mandatory recall authority and direct them
to create a national tracing system to determine the origin
of tainted food
- Find,
prosecute and punish food production facilities that abuse
animals and allow unsafe food to enter the food supply
- Permanently
ban the slaughter of downed animals
Clinton noted that 12 of the 15 cases of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy in North America were linked to downed animals;
downed animals were three times more likely to carry E. coli;
and, according to one analysis, 14 percent of downed cows
carried salmonella. |
