House panel probing recalls say companies and federal agencies can't be relied upon to protect American consumers.

By Parija B. Kavilanz, CNNMoney.com senior writer

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House lawmakers, calling the U.S. food safety system "fragile" and a "mess," harshly chastised leading food companies and federal agencies Tuesday for allowing unsafe products to reach American consumers.

"Over the last 18 months we've had E.coli in bagged spinach, salmonella found in tomatoes, lettuce contaminated with E.coli at Taco Bell, frozen pot pies contaminated with salmonella," Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said at a House Energy and Commerce Committee subpanel hearing probing food safety issues.

Stupak, chairman of the oversight and investigation subcommittee, also highlighted this month's recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef produced by Westland/Hallmark - the largest in U.S. history - after a video showed potentially sick cows being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

"Our food safety system is broken. Relying on the food industry to place safety before profits does not seem to be working," Stupak said.

He also said that both the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - two agencies that share responsibility for ensuring the safety of food products - were underfunded, had "inconsistent oversight" and "ineffective coordination" and can't be relied upon to protect American consumers.

"Some 76 million Americans, 1 out of every 4, are affected each year by illness from contaminated foods," Stupak said. "The overarching question for the CEOs testifying today is simply how do we fix our critical food safety net."

Scheduled to testify at the hearing are Gary Rodkin, CEO of ConAgra Foods (CAG, Fortune 500), Christopher Lischewski, CEO of Bumble Bee Food, David DeLorenzo, CEO of Dole Food Co., and Keith Shoemaker, CEO of Butterball.

Also invited to testify was Steve Mendell, CEO of Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., but Stupak said Mendell has refused to appear voluntarily. Stupak said the next step would be to "compel" Mendell, by way of a subpoena, to appear before the committee at a later date.

Other committee members echoed Stupak's criticisms in their opening comments.

"It's stunning how much impaired food is reaching our dinner tables," said Rep., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

"Last year, 5,000 people died from contaminated food products and most were beef or seafoods."

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said she feared more outbreaks to come. "What's maddening is that these incidents are preventable," she said.

DeGette, who has introduced a bill that calls for both the FDA and the USDA to be given mandatory recall authority, said waiting for companies to issue voluntary recalls after they find a problem with their products is "like the fox guarding the hen house."

"All [food] recalls today are voluntary," she added. "This legislation will correct this by ordering recalls as soon as an outbreak occurs."

Consumer advocacy groups, such as D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, have also called for the creation of a single food safety agency with mandatory recall authority.

"The problem with having two agencies in charge of food safety is that both have lots of other things on their plate other than food safety," said Jeff Cronin, communications director with the Center for Science in the Public Interest.