Rep. Brown Asks Probe of Meat Inspectors’ Charges

Rep. George Brown Jr. (D-Colton) has called for an investigation of complaints by federal meat inspectors that reports of problems in Southern California meat plants have gone uncorrected.

Brown expressed his concern to Rep. Berkeley Bedell (D-Iowa), chairman of the subcommittee on department operations of the House Agriculture Committee, in a letter referring to allegations by whistle-blowing inspectors of the federal Food Safety and Inspection Service.

“FSIS recently conducted a study of the Southern California operations and found a number of shortcomings,” Brown said. “This report, together with the complaints by FSIS employees, points to a major problem and a possible public health risk.”

“As chairman of the oversight subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee, I am asking that you review the enclosed documents and look into the matter.”

While the Colton congressman sought a review of the allegations, executives of half a dozen of Southern California’s major supermarket firms said in telephone interviews Wednesday that the meat that Southern Californians buy in their stores is wholesome.

“To our knowledge, most of those types of operations (mentioned in the FSIS report) have been supplying restaurants and independent retailers,” said Don Gates, division manager and vice president of Safeway.

Brown was joined by another California congressman--Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton)--in raising questions about the state of meat and poultry inspection in Southern California.

In a letter to Brown earlier this month, Dymally said that a number of food inspectors had informed him that their supervisors had ignored reports of irregularities in some slaughterhouses. Inspectors also complained to him about harassment, he said.

“If the allegations are factual, then unsafe meat is being sold to the public,” Dymally said. “Furthermore, inspectors may be deterred from performing their duties diligently and honestly. For these reasons, I am asking for an investigation by your subcommittee on this matter.”

After an unprecedented areawide review, federal officials reported recently that meat and poultry inspection in Southern California is “below the national norm.” Reviews of each of the area’s eight inspection circuits uncovered scores of violations of USDA regulations.

Special reviewing officers reported wide variations in sanitation standards, questioned the quality of overall supervision, cited the failure to train new employees and called for more efficient use of the inspection staff.

In inspecting 236 of Southern California’s 452 slaughtering and processing plants, the reviewers reported that 33 of them had at least one deficiency directly involving meat products. They found “serious control problems” in 14 plants and wrote special reports on the violations found there.

Al Marasca, executive vice president for marketing for Ralphs Grocery, said he thought news coverage had created the impression that there are widespread meat-inspection problems affecting supermarkets when that is not the case.

“We have developed a quality assurance program” Marasca said. “All of our beef is handled through a central processing plant in Arizona . . . to further assure quality and wholesomeness.”

Ongoing Inspections

All of Ralphs’ meat is subject to ongoing inspection from the slaughtering plant to the meat counter, he said.

Safeway’s Gates said that most of the beef sold by the supermarket chain probably is bought out of state and processed in the firm’s centralized plant in Vernon, where it is again inspected by the USDA during processing.

Bob Kelly, Vons vice president for meat operations, said conditions reported in news accounts of the meat inspection program do not apply to his firm because all of Vons’ beef is purchased in the Midwest.

“We are a totally self-contained quality-control department,” Kelly said. “The products that come in here are inspected and our department managers have the right to refuse any item that isn’t wholesome in any manner.”

Judy Decker, communication coordinator for Lucky, said all of the chain’s beef is processed through its Buena Park plant. “If we find any problems with beef at all, it is rejected,” she said. “We maintain our plants in top-notch condition.”

Out-of-State Meat

John Groover, director of Hughes’ meat and fish department, said the market chain gets 90% of its meat from Dakota City, Iowa, or Greely, Mont. “We buy no beef out of Vernon. We don’t do any business with these people who are listed (in FSIS reports).

Jack H. Brown, president and executive officer of Stater Brothers, said the meat it buys from slaughterhouses throughout Southern California is taken to Colton, where it is again inspected and processed under USDA inspection.

“I’m sure that in any large industry there are violations from time to time. However, I do not know any instances where the health of the public has been in jeopardy,” Brown said. “I have no reason to have any concern that there is any problem with beef being sold at Stater Brothers.”