© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Other

Durbin Says Government has Poor Food Safety Record

By AP/KWMU

Washington – Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he doesn't believe federal agencies have done enough to keep mad cow disease out of the United States.

Durbin said he isn't satisfied with the response by the Food and Drug Administration or the Agriculture Department to the recent discovery of an infected cow in Washington state.

Congressional investigators last year found weak enforcement of a ban on certain cattle feed considered the likely source of such infections.

The FDA now says enforcement has improved so significantly that 99.9 percent of the nation's feed companies comply with the ban. But some question the degree of improvement.

Durbin says he plans to introduce a bill next month to further restrict the use of diseased meat or high-risk tissues in animal feed.

Other