New Federal Meat Inspection Plan Draws Fire

A proposal to dramatically change the federal inspection program for processed meats continues to draw criticism from Congress, consumer groups and even some food industry representatives.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan would drop continuous inspection of all 6,000 plants involved with producing items such as frankfurters and luncheon meats.

Instead, a reduced federal inspector corps would concentrate its efforts on those companies with poor sanitation records and other manufacturing problems. Greater emphasis would also be placed on identifying bacterial contamination and fraud than at present.

One controversial aspect of the plan is the transfer of certain responsibilities from USDA inspectors to a meat processing company’s own employees. However, firms with slaughter operations are unaffected and would remain under constant inspection by USDA personnel.

The proposal, known formally as Improved Processing Inspection, generated 1,800 comments from the meat industry, consumer groups and the public when first issued in November. Almost all of them were negative, said USDA officials.

“The comments were negative in some respects or in all respects,” said Carol Seymour, a technical services administrator for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. “Many also contained examples of the horrors that can, and do, exist (at some meat plants). It’s clear the public really does support a strong inspection program.”

Seymour, who spoke at the Western States Meat Assn.’s annual convention in Newport Beach, added that most of the public’s comments were generated in the aftermath of critical newspaper articles and did not address the proposal’s specifics.

She said that the USDA’s goal in formulating the change is to better deploy federal inspectors and the agency’s monetary resources. There will also be greater use of skilled food scientists in the inspection service.

“We are embarking on a program that would actually reduce the number of inspectors,” said Seymour. “But the inspector of the future will have an entirely different set of skills than our inspectors of today. We are looking for better educational backgrounds for those (now) being hired.”

Further, the agency hopes to reduce microbiological contamination and, failing that, more rapidly identify harmful bacteria when they do exist in products.

This type of work requires increased laboratory staffing as opposed to USDA personnel who presently inspect food on production lines primarily for visual defects and lesions. Contaminants, however, cannot be detected visually nor by touch or smell.

“We are better able to identify bacterial concerns in slaughter and processing plants (through lab tests),” she said. “As we get better at identifying (these pathogens) then we need to get better at preventing these kinds of problems.”

Even so, the outpouring of criticism has prompted the agency to schedule public hearings on the matter this summer. USDA hopes information obtained during these sessions will help in formulating a regulation more acceptable to all parties.

Some in the meat industry, though, have said the USDA failed to adequately explain the inspection proposal from the start and therefore left itself vulnerable to highly critical charges from consumer groups and others.

“The message going out is that Improved Processing Inspection means degradation in the quality of products,” said Dave Theno, technical director for Foster Farms of Livingston, Calif. “The jury is still out on whether it is an inferior system (to the present program) . . . But the USDA should provide assurances that the system will provide protection equal to, or better than, current inspections.”

The Community Nutrition Institute was also critical of the USDA’s handling of the issue. The Washington-based group, in an account of the agency’s decision-making, said USDA was forced into an “embarrassing policy reversal.”

Another consumer group, Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, said the original proposal was, among other things, unacceptably vague. The plan also failed to include a sufficient number of tests to verify whether companies actually complied with the program, according to a report published by Public Voice.

The consumer group also complained that there were few provisions in the plan for public or media access to the records kept by a company on its performance.

USDA’s Seymour said, however, documents detailing processors’ compliance with the new standards will be available.

“If there are production deficiencies in a plant then the public has a right to know,” she said.

Expanded Recall--The contamination problems that can befall a meat processor became clear in the past several days as evidenced by a Waco, Texas-based company’s voluntary recall of turkey hot dogs because of suspected bacterial contamination.

Tests of the product, manufactured by Plantation Foods, Inc., revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes . The USDA, which announced the action, said the firm’s turkey frankfurters were distributed throughout a southern tier of states stretching from Georgia to California.

Late last week, however, the agency said that Plantation hot dogs were likely to have been sold throughout the country including the Midwest and Northwest. Of particular concern are those products sold in 3- and 10-pound packages to institutional customers such as restaurants, schools and hospitals.

The brands involved include Plantation Turkey Franks, Nifda Turkey Franks, Code Turkey Franks and Nugget Turkey Franks. In addition to the institutional sizes, the products also are sold in supermarkets in 12-ounce and 16-ounce packages.

Those items included in the voluntary recall are stamped with a sell-by date of June 9 and should be returned to the place of purchase. The institutional packages are marked with a production date of April 14.

A case of Listeria meningitis, a severe illness, was linked to the Plantation-brand of turkey hot dogs. The infection was the first believed to have been associated with a processed or ready-to-eat meat.

Plantation’s hot dog production line is in the process of recertification by the USDA as being free of contamination and the company has announced significant changes in manufacturing practices in order to prevent another outbreak. None of Plantation’s other products are affected by the recall.

Listeria monocytogenes poses little risk to healthy adults. However, it can cause severe illness in high risk groups such as infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems such as cancer and AIDS patients.

Consumers can obtain information on protecting themselves from Listeria and other harmful bacteria by calling the USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline. The toll-free number is (800) 535-4555. The Centers for Disease Control also offers recorded information on Listeria and associated illnesses at (404) 527-6027.