Recalls of hazardous meat and poultry have gone up by more than 80 percent in the last six years, according to a new report out Thursday morning. One in six Americans get sick every year from eating contaminated food leading to at least 3,000 deaths per year – 450 from salmonella alone.
“Something is rotten in our slaughterhouses and our fields, and so common sense protections from farm to fork can help prevent that,” said Adam Garber, a researcher for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the organization behind the report.
It found recalls of produce and processed food by the FDA increased about two percent from 2013 to 2018 and the most hazardous meat and poultry recalls by the USDA increased by 83 percent.
The report recommends the FDA require testing “water used for irrigation or watering of produce for hazardous pathogens” like E. coli and for meat and poultry products, declare when “antibiotic resistant strains of salmonella as an adulterant” are found.
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