The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weak oversight of poultry plants has facilitated several salmonella outbreaks, hundreds of illnesses and dozens of hospitalizations, according to a new study from Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Pew study and an investigation from Consumer Reports, both published Thursday, suggested the USDA was too lax in ensuring poultry factories were producing bacteria-free chicken. According to the Washington Post, the investigation examined 300 store-bought raw chicken breasts from grocers across the country. Consumer Reports found "worrisome amounts" of salmonella and E. Coli.

"When more than 500 people get sick from a food-borne illness outbreak, that means the system we have in place wasn't working to protect public health," said Sandra Eskin, director of Pew's Food Safety Campaign. "This many people should not be getting sick."

This year, multiple outbreaks of salmonella have sickened about 523 and hospitalized dozens.

Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council, said in a statement that rates of salmonella and E. coli have been declining over the last ten years.

"Eliminating bacteria entirely is always the goal, but in reality, it's simply not feasible," he said.

The USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) said the measures suggested by both reports are already being taken. In a statement, the agency said there are initiatives in place to change methods of meat inspection and fight salmonella rates.

Both the Pew study and the Consumer Reports investigation, funded by Pew, called for the USDA to be more assertive in recalling at-risk meat. The action would cause the agency to be more publicly vocal about problems with the meat's inspection.

"Every one of the four major brands we tested contained worrisome amounts of bacteria, even the chicken breasts labeled 'no antibiotics' or 'organic,' " Consumer Reports said, according to CNN.

The National Chicken Council responded with their own statement reinforcing that they believed store-bought poultry to be entirely safe.

"Americans eat about 160 million servings of chicken every single day," the group said in a statement, "and 99.9% of those servings are consumed safely."