A recent news report about broken truck reefer units in Ohio prompted Sen. Sherrod Brown to press the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to act on food safety.

Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, was reacting to a WBNS-10TV report that roadside inspectors found spoiled food on two trucks but state and federal agencies do not do enough to monitor the reefers.

The report quotes a State Patrol officer saying that the vast majority of truckers do things the right way, and notes that it is up to the receivers to reject any spoiled shipments.

In a letter to FMCSA chief Anne Ferro, Brown said the agency should do more to guard against the problem.

“It is my belief that our food safety security net – a partnership between the United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the State of Ohio – also requires the guidance and participation of FMCSA,” he said.

He asked Ferro to report on agency inspections in Ohio, on agency communications with the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and on ways to improve the effort to protect food safety.

Ferro has not yet responded but will do so directly to the senator, said agency spokesperson Marissa Padilla.