Miller fearful of tainted school meals
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee wants an investigation into the risk of deadly E. coli getting into school lunches.
Representative George Miller, a California Democrat, is worried about a recent outbreak that killed at least two people and sickened about two dozen others in 11 states.
The E. coli outbreak was linked to ground beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y.
No schools were involved in the outbreak. But Miller said he is worried that tainted food might be purchased for school meal programs.
Miller asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to see whether there is adequate protection 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.
The GAO said in a September report that federal authorities had failed to tell schools about recalls of potentially tainted peanut products and canned vegetables
A GAO investigation found that the Agriculture Department did not always make sure that states and schools were notified promptly about recalled food distributed through the federal school lunch and breakfast programs, which serve 30 million students.
E. coli is among several kinds of bacteria that can sicken or kill people.
Symptoms of infection from E. coli include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that is often bloody, and vomiting. Most people get better in a week or so, but some infections can be life-threatening.
Very young children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.
