Lobbying Success Bites Food Industry hosted.ap.org — Years ago, the food industry pressured the Bush administration to
limit the paperwork companies had to keep to help U.S. health investigators
quickly trace produce that sickens consumers. The White House also killed a
plan to require the industry to maintain electronic tracking records that could
speed up the search for an outbreak—s source. The apparent but unintended
consequences of the lobbying success: a paper record-keeping system that has
slowed investigators, with estimated business losses of $250 million. So far,
nearly 1,300 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia
and Canada
have been sickened by salmonella.