Tom Harkin: “You are right about E. coli. I counted up in June of this year, this…”

On the recordJuly 16, 1998

You are right about E. coli. I counted up in June of this year, this last month, and we had six E. coli outbreaks of food poisoning in this country, of a strain of E. coli that didn't exist 20 years ago. It wasn't there. And now it is here. It is not only making people sick, but killing kids. There are new pathogens that become more virulent. The surveillance systems we have in place and the risk assessment and the other inspection systems we have--the FDA, as the Senator knows, only on average inspects our food processing plants once every 10 years.

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Tom Harkin

Democratic · Iowa

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govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the rise of E. coli outbreaks and food safety during a Senate debate.

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Tom Harkin: “You are right about E. coli. I counted up in June of this year, this last month, and we had six E. coli outbreaks of…”

Editor's note · Context