MILLER ASKS GAO TO EXPAND INVESTIGATION INTO RISK OF CONTAMINATED BEEF IN SCHOOLS
News Date November 10, 2009
Representative George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, is calling for an investigation into the safety of school lunches, following a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress that found that federal authorities don’t always provide the schools with timely recall notices of contaminated food products, increasing the risk of contaminated food making its way onto children’s plates.
While the federal schools program mandates that all its beef be tested for E. coli, the meat schools receive from other sources is not required to undergo E. coli testing. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) provides up to 20 percent of the food served in the nation’s schools.
Representative Miller has asked the GAO to expand its investigation to the entire school food system to see whether there are adequate protections for school meals at the local, state and federal level. He also asked investigators to compare the safety and quality of ground beef available to schools with the ground beef available to restaurants and other commercial buyers. (Contact: Amy Mann)