NEW YORK—Following a nationwide recall of over half a billion eggs earlier this month, state Sen. Daniel Squadron and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh have introduced a new legislation Sunday that would require New York farmers to vaccinate their hens against salmonella.
The proposed bill would add requirements on the top of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) updated safety regulations that went into effect last month. Although FDA’s efforts have been good, New York has to push further to ensure consumer safety, say the legislators.
“Thousands of people have been sickened,” said Squadron at a press conference outside of the Whole Foods Market in the Lower East Side. “It is because we have unsafe food practices in this country. … It is almost 100 percent preventable.”
Squadron said that implementing salmonella vaccination should be a “no-brainer,” as the practice is already widely popular and effective in the United Kingdom. After vaccinating chickens for about a decade, British farmers have been able to reduce the number of salmonella cases by 96 percent in England and Wales.
The proposed bill would add requirements on the top of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) updated safety regulations that went into effect last month. Although FDA’s efforts have been good, New York has to push further to ensure consumer safety, say the legislators.
“Thousands of people have been sickened,” said Squadron at a press conference outside of the Whole Foods Market in the Lower East Side. “It is because we have unsafe food practices in this country. … It is almost 100 percent preventable.”
Squadron said that implementing salmonella vaccination should be a “no-brainer,” as the practice is already widely popular and effective in the United Kingdom. After vaccinating chickens for about a decade, British farmers have been able to reduce the number of salmonella cases by 96 percent in England and Wales.
