Indiana prison riot overshadows food safety hearing

Since contaminated food affects millions of Americans --- and their pets --- every year, Grumpy Editor checked TV channels, including C-Span, but failed to spot live coverage yesterday of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations hearing on the subject.

C-Span 2 finally got around to the hearing last night, rolling tape of the session.  It aired against "American Idol" in the Eastern time zone.

An Indiana prison riot took up much air time on cable news channels.  Through yesterday afternoon, information on the food safety hearing was spotty.

However, Deb Price of the Detroit News wrote about families telling the House panel about serious illnesses from tainted food.   She added that “lawmakers at the hearing called for sweeping overhaul of the nation's food-safety laws, including making recalls of contaminated foods mandatory” and that Rep. John Dingell, (D., Mich.), who chairs the full committee, plans another hearing to focus on changes needed at the FDA.

She also reported “Dingell had sharp words for the Chinese government over its reluctance to cooperate in the pet-food scandal, which has been traced to Chinese factories that put the chemical melamine into its wheat gluten to fraudulently elevate the protein content and thereby make it more profitable.”