020923 Lawmakers Question Beef Recall Delay

Washington (AP) - The Agriculture Department has failed to adequately explain how it handled a recall of 19 million pounds of contaminated hamburger meat, some members of Congress say.

The lawmakers -- Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Mary Kaptur, D- Ohio; Rosa DeLauro, D- Conn.; and Sen. Richard Durbin R-Ill. -- have sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, asking that her department explain why it failed to quickly recall the meat after initial tests proved it was contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

They told Veneman in a letter that Elsa Murano, the department's undersecretary for food safety, didn't answer important questions although she did release more details about the ConAgra Beef Co. recall in a letter she wrote to them on Sept. 5.

Murano didn't explain why the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service took nearly three months to stop the sale of the meat after tests in May and June showed it had E. coli bacteria, the lawmakers said.

The Agriculture Department didn't issue a full recall until July 19.

"We made these requests because ConAgra, one of the largest meat producers in the United States, may have had evidence of positive E. coli 0157:H7 results as early as mid-April," lawmakers wrote.

Murano also didn't elaborate on ConAgra's actions, they noted.

The politicians said they heard ConAgra hasn't been cooperating with meat inspectors since the recall.

"We have heard reports that USDA asked ConAgra for the additional bacterial samples, but the company has refused to provide them. Is this true?" the congressional members asked Veneman.

In addition, the lawmakers want to know if food safety officials are providing the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with enough information to link cases of human illness to the contaminated beef.

Among their concerns, the lawmakers said they were alarmed that inspectors found safety problems at the ConAgra beef plant, as Murano's letter pointed out. They asked that Veneman's agency disclose what those deficiencies were.

Alisa Harrison, an Agriculture Department spokeswoman, declined to comment on the letter, saying the agency hasn't had time to review it.

The recall of meat from Greeley, Colo.-based ConAgra was the country's second largest meat recall ever. Company officials did not return calls for comment Friday.

The Agriculture Department issued a nationwide recall because it was uncertain where the meat was sold. At the time of the recall, 17 people in Colorado had been sickened by the beef.

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