8 I Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010 FDA: Only two egg farms show salmonella By Mary Clare Jalonick ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER WASHINGTON Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says there is no evi dence that there are additional farms involved in a massive recall of more than half a billion eggs. Officials also said Monday they do not expect the number of eggs recalled to grow based on what they now know. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it has not identified additional clusters of illness that would indi cate the outbreak has spread beyond two lowa farms. Also Monday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee said it is investigating the outbreak and sent letters to both farms asking for detailed information about company operations, communica tions with the government and what they knew when. The federal government rarely inspects farms, like the two involved in the outbreak, officials say, as the FDA has traditionally reacted to outbreaks instead of working to prevent them. Hamburg said Monday that her agency hasn’t had enough author ity to help prevent outbreaks like the more than 1,000 cases of sal monella poisoning linked to the eggs from two lowa farms. Giving a series of network inter views, Hamburg said the FDA is taking the issue “very, very seri ously.” At the same time, she said Former Nebraska Senator Hagel endorses Sestak By Peter Jackson ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER HARRISBURG Former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel gave Democrat Joe Sestak his second major endorsement from moder ates in a week in his bid for a hotly contested Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Hagel, a Republican who has broken ranks in the past with the GOP told The Associated Press on Monday that Sestak has demon strated during his two terms in Congress that he puts the inter ests of the nation and his con stituents ahead of his party. “I think he’s exactly what our country needs more of. I think he’s PUCA 107326 By Handy Delivery 814-355-5555 We accept Credit and Lioncash WE ARE Penn State and WE REAP The Daily Collegian Statistics courtesy o! Penn State Pulse 2008 Congress should pass legislation stalled in the Senate that would increase the frequency of inspec tions and give the agency authori ty to order a recall. Companies now have to issue such recalls vol untarily. “We need better abilities and authorities to put in place these preventive controls and hold com panies accountable,” Hamburg said. Food safety advocates have pushed for such improvements for more than a decade, as there have been few rules on the books that require companies to make eggs, along with many other foods, safer. The FDA's authority on the farm is questionable, as the agency is often limited to gather ing information about a contami nation outbreak after people have already been sickened. Investigations into what went wrong come well after the crucial evidence is gone. Dr. Jeff Farrar, FDA’s associate commissioner for food protection, says the agency has traditionally focused on food manufacturing facilities instead of farms since the agency’s authority is muddled and there are few standards in place. “The farm is just a different environment,” he said. “Without those standards we don’t have the specific information to say you are in compliance in this area and out of compliance here.” The Obama administration has tried to remedy that with new rules that went into effect in July, what the Senate needs more of courageous, independent think ing,” Hagel said. “That’s what the job is about. You are supposed to use your judgment.” Hagel refused to comment on the candidacy of Sestak’s oppo nent, Republican Pat Toomey, a former congressman. The men are seeking the seat long held by Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican-turned-Democrat whom Sestak beat in the primary. Hagel plans to announce his endorsement Tuesday at news conferences with Sestak in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The two have military ties: Hagel, a moderate Republican, is a Vietnam war veteran, while Two-Minute Warning NATION & STATE Buildings at the egg operations near Galt, lowa, are shown on Friday. A salmonella outbreak, that has led to the recall of 380 million eggs, has been traced to only two farms in lowa. The two farms share suppliers of chickens and feed, as well as ties to an lowa business with a long history of violating state and federal laws. just after the current egg outbreak tions, had languished for more The FDA said in July that the began. The rules, which require than a decade after President Bill new safeguards could reduce the producers to do more testing for Clinton first proposed that egg number of salmonella cases by salmonella and take other precau- standards be toughened. nearly 60 percent. Sestak is a 31-year Navy veteran who reached the rank of vice admiral before retiring in January 2006. Like Hagel, Sestak is not afraid to buck his party. Until he won the May primary, Sestak received the cold shoulder from Democratic leaders including President Barack Obama and Gov. Ed Rendell, who backed Specter’s bid for a sixth Senate term. Hagel is co-chairman of President Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board, While in the Navy, Sestak served in the Clinton White House as director for defense pol icy on the National Security Council. Hagel is the second prominent figure outside the Democratic Party to endorse Sestak, who is trying to woo independent voters. Last week, he was endorsed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a three-term mayor who left the Republican Party to become an independent. Meanwhile Monday, Toomey kicked off a four-day campaign bus tour. He spoke and answered ques tions from political insiders at a Pennsylvania Press Club lunch eon in Harrisburg on Monday, and his bus planned stops at locations throughout northeastern and cen tral parts of the state. In his speech, Toomey blamed liberal Democratic policies that T-shirts Shorts Hooded Sweatshirts Sweatpants Bookbags and get a free iPod touch * # After mail-in rebate. See online store for details. While your memories of Penn State will last forever, this offer won't. Use your PSU ID to get great Apple Education pricing on a new Mac and get a FREE BGB iPod touch. But only until September 7,2010. Visit us here today! http://computerstore.psu.edu/ Penn State's Computer Store Willard Building • HUB Mon-Fri: 9 am - 5 pm (except holidays) Phone: 814.865.2100 or 800.251.9281 Terms and conditions apply. Apple, the Apple logo, ind Mac are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. 1 Buy a Mac for college, The Daily Collegian Sestak supports for impeding the nation’s economic recovery and keeping unemployment high. He said he would reduce corporate taxes, federal spending and the role of government. “Joe thinks that we should have a dramatically larger federal gov ernment, should spend much more money, we should launch new programs, new bailouts,” he told reporters. “And I just dis agree. I think the government is spending too much money, the deficits are too large. This is a fun damental question that’s going to be debated throughout this fall.” Toomey’s bus tour is expected to cover most of the state except the southeastern comer. $6.99 $7.99-14.99 $19.99 $13.99 $9.99-19.99 Authorized Campus Store
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers