June 15, 2023

US politician reintroduces bill that permits authorities to scrutinise animal feeding operations for bacteria 

US congresswoman Rosa DeLauro reintroduced the Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act (EFSIA) this week, a bill that allows US federal investigators to enter concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the United States to test for harmful bacteria and other microbes that cause foodborne illness.

Currently CAFOs can refuse investigators from the Food and Drug Administration or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention permission to enter the farm in order to determine the cause of an outbreak. No other food producers outside the animal agriculture sector, such as produce farms, can do this. 

The animal industry can and has thwarted investigators from sampling on farms during outbreaks.

The EFSIA was first introduced in 2019 after a nationwide outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce was tied back to lettuce growing in close proximity to a large cattle-feeding operation in Yuma, Arizona. Federal investigators have also faced challenges understanding how outbreaks emerge and spread in animal farms during large outbreaks traced back to pork and chicken. 

By allowing federal investigators to track the source of the outbreak from CAFOs, the bill will help expand scientific knowledge of how illness can spread and prevent future outbreaks.

- Center for Science in the Public Interest