A salmonella outbreak linked to Foster Farms chicken has sickened 574 people in 27 states and Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite the illnesses, producer Foster Farms has not initiated a recall, and the government has no apparent plans to shut it down.
The federal Centers for Disease Control says there were 50 new reported illnesses in the last two months, bringing to 574 the total number of cases in the outbreak. Most of the illnesses are in California.
The Agriculture Department is monitoring Foster Farms facilities and says measured rates of salmonella in the company's products have been going down since the outbreak began.
The department threatened to shut down the facilities last year but let Foster Farms stay open after the company had made immediate changes to reduce salmonella rates.
Food safety advocates say it is long past time to pressure the company for a recall and to shut down production.
"It's very unclear why USDA isn't taking more action to stop the sale of the product and protect the public," says Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
In a letter from USDA to Foster Farms last October, the department said inspectors had documented "fecal material on carcasses" along with "poor sanitary dressing practices, insanitary food contact surfaces, insanitary nonfood contact surfaces and direct product contamination."
The statement comes with a reminder that Salmonella increases during warmer months and consumers should follow proper food safety guidelines when handling it. Those measure would include storing packages of chicken on a plate on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator so blood and juices from the chicken cannot contaminate other foods; using a dedicated set of cutting boards and utensils for the raw chicken that is not used for anything else until it washed with hot soapy water, immediately cleaning up any drips or spills from the raw chicken with hot soapy water; and using a food thermometer to make sure the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165˚F.
