DeLauro: If we had.....

From the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro:

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, issued the following statement regarding the FDA announcement that salmonella warning on tomatoes had been lifted. While the warning, in place since June 7, is removed, the investigation into the on-going outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, which has sickened more than 1,200 people, continues.
“If we had an adequate food safety system that included an effective traceback system and better coordination among government agencies, this type of announcement could have been made earlier in the investigation. However, because the current food safety system is fragmented and does not incorporate a ‘farm-to-fork’ approach to food protection, this announcement is being made much later in the process, and possibly too late for the tomato growers who have seen their market suffer enormously.”