U.S. Boosts Inspection of Foods From Areas Affected by Fallout

Federal authorities moved Thursday to increase inspections of food imports from countries hit by the Soviet radioactive fallout but noted that Polish hams, Danish cheese and other popular imports probably will not be contaminated.

Agriculture Department officials said they will ask countries that have registered the highest fallout contamination levels to test beef and poultry products destined for export to the United States. The products will be reinspected in spot checks when they arrive.

“If they don’t take measures to assure safety, then we have the ability to remove them from the list of eligible exporters of meat and poultry products to the U.S.,” Agriculture Department spokeswoman Nancy Robinson said.

Officials stressed that they do not know enough about the levels of contamination in the Soviet Union and surrounding countries to determine whether their food products would be threatened.

“Once we know what the contamination of the product is, we can declare whether or not they pose a hazard,” said Lester Crawford, associate administrator for food safety and inspection service for the Agriculture Department. “ . . . None of these countries have reported the levels on the ground. They have taken only tentative readings.”

The principal exporters of meat products, mostly pork, in the region are Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark, followed by Hungary, Czechoslovakia and West Germany. Robinson said the products that could have been contaminated as a result of the Soviet nuclear plant accidents would not begin showing up in U.S. ports for another 30 days. The Soviet Union does not export meat or poultry to America.

“I can’t speak for the Soviet Union, but in Eastern European countries, the best bet is there will be no threat,” Crawford said. “If we were buying from the Soviet Union, then we would have to have a different answer.”

Crawford said the affected countries were asked Thursday to provide precise readings of the fallout this week.

Another Cloud Coming

“In Denmark, a 10% increase in background gamma radiation has been reported,” Crawford said. “That poses no threat to the food supply or to individuals. What we don’t know is whether that’s a temporary phenomenon or whether there’s another cloud coming.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which inspects food products other than meat and poultry, put its regional inspectors on alert to prepare for additional inspections for radioactive contamination. But a spokesman said the agency will not order the inspections until firmer readings of the contamination can be obtained. “There’s a lot of things in the works,” he said.