Clinton Proposes Stricter Rules for Meat Plants

Makers of hot dogs, cold cuts and other ready-to-eat meat products would have to test plant equipment regularly for listeria and allow the government to look at their records under rules the Clinton administration proposed Friday.

Although some processors already monitor for the potentially deadly bacteria, there are no federal testing standards, and plants are not required to give test results to government inspectors.

“The best way to help ensure the safety of these products is to establish science-based food safety performance standards and then closely monitor compliance with those standards,” Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said.

Listeria monocytogenes kills 500 people and causes 2,300 serious illnesses each year, the government estimates. Pregnant women, elderly people and others who have weakened immune systems are considered the most vulnerable.

In December, at least four deaths and three miscarriages or stillbirths were linked to poultry products made by Cargill Inc. An outbreak in 1998 that killed 15 people and sickened at least 100 was traced to meat processed at a Sara Lee Corp. plant in Michigan.

“It is shocking today that no meat plants are required to test their plants or their meat products, and that, if they do test, they don’t have to share their results,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, a food safety specialist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.

President Clinton announced last spring that the Agriculture Department was developing testing standards.