GOP hammered for food-safety cuts

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A leading U.S. House Democrat is citing a recent deadly Salmonella outbreak to slam Republicans for their slashing of food-safety funding.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee's health subpanel, said GOP budget cuts aimed at the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture could mean more food-borne illnesses like the salmonella linked this week to ground turkey produced by food giant Cargill Inc.

A drug-resistant strain of Salmonella linked to ground turkey produced by a Cargill processing plant in Arkansas has sickened about 80 people and left one person dead, resulting in a massive recall, The Hill reported Thursday.

"The House majority has slashed funding for the FDA and USDA, choosing to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy over investing in and improving our food safety system," DeLauro said in a statement.

"By cutting their funding, we have limited their effectiveness and asked FDA and USDA to do more with less, and the impact of these cuts is starkly clear with this most recent recall."