scott gottlieb

With Thanksgiving and Christmas comes the U.S. Department of Agriculture's reminder to cook turkey to 165 degrees to kill salmonella, a harmful bacteria, as in "Why a Salmonella Outbreak Shouldn't Ruin Your Thanksgiving." The reminder is particularly timely since an outbreak of salmonella-infected turkey resulting in foodborne illness was officially detected a bit more than a year ago. USDA, while active in detecting the slaughterhouse sites of the infected turkey, has yet to name those sites publicly and issue a whole turkey or turkey parts recall. USDA has recalled Jennie-O ground turkey products and issued a list of retailers carrying those products.

This inadequate response should raise serious questions about the proposed USDA takeover of all federal food safety duties. In July, the Trump administration proposed to transfer the food safety duties of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the USDA. The proposal has many hurdles to realization, not the least of which is that new legislation would be required to transfer to USDA the duties assigned to FDA in the Food Safety Modernization Act. Even if such legislation were proposed, any Congressional hearings on the proposal must review USDA's performance history of protecting consumers, other than reminding them of how to prepare turkey and other foods to prevent foodborne illness.