A House committee investigating food safety Thursday asked Omaha-based ConAgra Foods and 46 other large food companies to list all food recalls and safety alerts they had issued since Jan. 1, 2000.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce also requested a list of all instances when internal testing of any product found E. coli, salmonella or other contamination that exceeded limits set by the Food and Drug Administration or state regulators. The committee asked the companies to state whether the FDA had been notified, and if not, why not.

The committee asked for the information in no later than two weeks for domestic plants and no later than four weeks for international plants.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the committee's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said "Now it is time to determine if the owners of the largest brand names on supermarket shelves have been forthcoming with the American people about the safety of their products."

ConAgra spokeswoman Teresa Paulsen said the company would comply with the committee's request.

The committee released a list of 313 food recalls it said had occurred over the last 16 months. ConAgra has had three recalls in that time, including pasta and meatball meals due to possible undercooking that did not draw a lot of attention and major recalls of Banquet pot pies and Peter Pan peanut butter because of salmonella contamination.

The committee asked for a list of all instances where the FDA or state regulators were denied entrance to any facility or to records of testing performed on products processed at a facility, even if those denials were temporary.

ConAgra has acknowledged that it had destroyed peanut butter contaminated with salmonella that was made in October 2004 at the same plant that makes Peter Pan.

The company said it did not tell FDA officials at the time because the product did not make it to stores.