Rep. Chris Smith sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to investigate how a group of New Jersey National Guard members got sick after eating possibly “tainted” food while deployed to protect the US Capitol.
Smith (R-NJ) noted that the roughly 30 members of the Garden State Guard became ill, as did troops from other states, after being provided with “tainted and unhealthy food from a private-sector vendor.”
“Some have even reported vomiting in the Senate parking lot,” Smith wrote in the letter he sent Wednesday. “Alarmingly, the soldiers have noted receiving almost completely raw meat, some of which, according to press reports, even contained pieces of shaved metal.”
He also asked Pelosi to investigate the private caterer that supplied the food, have its contract “voided,” and have a new provider appointed.
“The men and women deployed here from New Jersey and elsewhere to protect the Capitol deserve meals that are absolutely safe and healthful,” the letter continued.
Scores of National Guard troops defending the Capitol got sick after eating the food, with one member of Michigan’s Guard saying they found raw beef and metal shavings.
“Yesterday, for instance, there were 74 different meals found with raw beef in them,” the sergeant told station WXYZ, sharing images of meat that looked completely raw in the middle.
“Just yesterday … soldiers had found metal shavings in their food.”
The troops, thousands of whom remain at the Capitol, were deployed after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters descended on the building as Congress met to certify the Electoral College vote, giving President Biden the win.
