DeGette Comments On E. Coli Outbreak In Colorado

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Vice Chair of theCommittee on Energy and Commerce, today offered the following commentsregarding reports that Colorado State health officials areinvestigating an outbreak of a serious strain of E. coli that may belinked to last month's National Western Stock Show.

"It is alarming that there has been another E. Coli outbreak inColorado that could harm the people of our state – particularly ourchildren," said DeGette. "Fresh off the heels of tainted peanut butter,this is just another reason we must strengthen our food safety system.First and foremost, we must learn from the past and prevent theseoutbreaks from occurring. But, public officials need to be armed withthe tools necessary to deal with an emergency like this."

U.S. Rep. DeGette has championed food safety for years havingintroduced legislation that would give the federal government theauthority to order a recall of tainted foods and direct the Food andDrug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) to establish a product tracing system to identify contaminatedfood. The Washington Post and the Denver Post editorialized earlier this week on the need for stronger food safety laws.

Click here to read the Denver Post report on the outbreak.