By Aliya Sternstein, CQ Staff

The largest beef recall in U.S. history has left many Americans wondering if they ingested bad meat, and the government’s response is raising questions on Capitol Hill.

The Agriculture Department refuses to identify which stores sold the food, according to Consumers Union. Consumers must scour dozens of lot numbers on the department’s Website to figure out if they purchased beef products produced by Westland/Hallmark and covered by the recall, according to the consumers’ group. Purchasers who threw out the packaging are out of luck.

And the source of the meat may not even appear on a package if the item was part of a large lot, Consumers Union says.

“This recall raises a whole host of issues, and the disclosure of retail outlets involved is certainly one of them,” said Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl , D-Wis., who has scheduled a food safety hearing for Feb. 28. “It’s another unfortunate episode of all talk and no action, and certainly something we will discuss with [the Food Safety and Inspection Service] at our hearing next week.”

Days before the recall last weekend, Consumers Union joined other interest groups in urging Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to ask for an immediate change in policy that would identify specific retail outlets where recalled meat and poultry products were sold.

Their Feb. 14 letter urged Schafer to quickly approve a 2006 proposal by the Food Safety and Inspection Service that would make public lists of supermarkets involved in recalls.

“If consumers are unable to properly identify whether products in their possession are part of a recall, they risk consuming the contaminated product, greatly increasing their risk of illness or even death,” the letter states.

Kohl recalled that Food Safety and Inspection Service itself argued in 2006 that publicizing the names of retailers would make recalls more efficient and improve the likelihood that consumers would returned recalled items.

On Wednesday, USDA spokesman Keith Williams said the agency expects a final rule will be published and implemented this year. It is now in the last stages of the rulemaking process. The change has been “a long stated priority” of Food Safety and Inspection Service Undersecretary Richard Raymond, Williams added.

A slew of food contamination scares over the past year prompted the letter by the advocacy groups, which also included the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Food & Water Watch and the Government Accountability Project.

In announcing its March 2006 proposal, the Agriculture Department explained that it had previously considered store identities and distribution lists to be confidential business information, but had since concluded that the agency has the power to release the names.