USDA reveals test to detect bacteria in five minutes
In-plant trials on more than 1,800 beef, pork and poultry carcasses show that a new test can rapidly detect bacteria, according to USDA.
Now it's a matter of deciding how to use the test, which can tell within five minutes whether a carcass has high levels of bacteria.
The test involves using a sponge to take a swab from a carcass, squeezing out the bacteria into a solution, extracting the cells from the solution, and reading the glow of the bacteria with a special meter.
Dan Laster, who directed the research, said the test can determine whether a carcass has been contaminated with feces, which bear both harmful and harmless bacteria. A high general bacteria count would indicate the presence of harmful ones, he said.
FSIS and the Agricultural Research Service, which adapted the test to animal carcasses, will determine how to apply the test.
"This test will provide inspectors with microvision, not just 20/20 vision," USDA Secretary Mike Espy said at a briefing on the test, which was developed at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb.
Department officials said the test would be useful in quality control programs to make sure that sanitation measures are working.
FSIS Administrator Michael R. Taylor admitted that finding an application for the test will be difficult.
"There are a number of issues to be resolved," he said, adding that the agency will work with the inspectors' union, outside scientists and industry.
But Taylor added he expects the rapid test to be mandatory by the end of 1995, after rule-making procedures.
Sara Lee to change ads amid deception charges
Chicago-based Sara Lee Corp. has agreed to pay $130,000 to 13 states, and to change its advertising to settle allegations that it made misleading claims about some of its light meat products.
Attorneys general in the 13 states contended that advertisements using the words "light" or "lite" on several Hillshire Farm products misled consumers into believing the products were low fat when they were not. Hillshire is an operating division of Sara Lee.
Sara Lee officials said all advertising is and has been accurate and in compliance with federal and state laws. Officials said the $10,000 payments to each state covers investigative costs by the attorneys general, as well as consumer education programs.
Bradley eyes independent meat inspection agency
Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) said that USDA's dual role of inspecting and marketing meat has created a conflict of interest that can best resolved by moving inspection out of the department.
Bradley (D-N.J.) is the latest lawmaker to unveil a plan to move meat and poultry inspection into a single, independent agency.
His bill is similar to legislation introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year by Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.)
"Our current meat inspection techniques are outdated and ineffective," Bradley said. "[Inspectors] can do nothing to detect E. coli and other bacteria."
Forty-five cases of E. coli 0157:H7 have been reported in New Jersey since June 1, according to the state Department of Health.
Bradley's bill would also address what he termed "the sorry state of technology" in meat inspection. The measure would direct money into developing a rapid, on-line microbacterial testing system, as well as establish a national safe cooking temperature.
The bill also directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health to establish a surveillance effort on food-borne illnesses, and develop standard care procedures and treatment for such illnesses.
Farmland makes moves
Kansas City, Mo.-based Farmland Foods Inc. announced three promotions in its sales and marketing departments:
-- Don Montgomery has been appointed director of marketing. He will manage the company's retail and foodservice marketing efforts.
-- Don Jacobsen has been appointed director of branded fresh meat, managing products such as Extra Tender Fresh Pork, Farmland Black Angus Beef and Farmland The Rib Co.
-- John Nugent has been appointed director of retail sales.
FDA seeks HACCP inquiries for food industry
FDA is looking for the next food to regulate under a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point program in an effort to enhance food safety.
The seafood industry was the first FDA-regulated company to fall under HACCP. USDA plans to put meat and poultry under the program.
FDA is asking the public and industry to help it decide what foods to regulate next.
"This system-though it is simple and based on common sense-signals one of the broadest food safety policy shifts in the past 50 years," noted FDA Commissioner David Kessler.
Because 30,000 to 60,000 Americans get sick from tainted seafood each year, FDA selected that industry as the first for HACCP.
HACCP will be adapted to fit each industry. For example, seafood must be tested for pollution, a factor that has no bearing on many other foods. Some foods need less oversight-fresh fruit, for example, has less potential for contamination than, say, frozen dinners with lots of ingredients.
FDA will accept comments until December about which foods most need regulation, and should decide the next target within a year.
Meanwhile, it hopes companies will volunteer for immediate pilot studies, said L. Robert Lake, FDA's food policy director.
No baloney-salami
safe from GATT tax
Salami lovers of the world rejoice. The Clinton administration is going to spare your favorite lunch meat from the GATT tax.
One option has been ruled out as a way to pay for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: Salami won't be taxed to pay for the world trade treaty.
One of Leon Panetta's last acts as Clinton administration budget director was to meet with fellow Italian-American Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on the GATT accord, which currently lies before Congress.
Panetta, who has since become the White House chief of staff, was asked about the meeting with the Senate Budget Committee's ranking Republican by members of the media.
The two are old friends, dating back from Panetta's days as chairman of the House Budget Committee.
The treaty, if approved by lawmakers, is expected to cost the United States $12 billion in lost tariffs during the next five years.
Officials are searching for ways to make up the lost money.
Asked by a reporter if Domenici had expressed concerns about paying for the global pact, Panetta said: "Two Italians had a very interesting discussion on the various options."
Pressed to elaborate, Panetta responded by saying he and Domenici agreed on one thing: "We don't want to tax salami."
ConAgra shifts veteran executive to new VP post
Michael J. Eckman has been named senior vice president of human resources for Downers Grove, Ill.-based ConAgra Meat Products Cos.
Eckman most recently was vice president of human resources for Armour Swift-Eckrich, a ConAgra Inc. division. He has worked with several ConAgra divisions since joining the company in 1980.
Hudson, Burger King
combine on minority firm
Fast-food giant Burger King Corp. and Hudson Foods Inc. are investing in a new beef processing company that is expected to be one of the 15 largest minority-owned businesses in the United States.
Stephen B. Singleteary, a Chicago-based, African-American businessman, will own 62 percent of the new company-Diversity Food Processing.
The balance will be owned by Rogers, Ark.-based Hudson Foods and Miami-based Burger King. Singleteary currently owns 11 Burger King outlets.
Diversity will build a 75,000-square-foot beef processing facility in Petersburg, Va., and will supply Burger King and other customers with a variety of ground beef products.
The new facility will process 125 million pounds of beef a year, which could translate into annual sales of more than $125 million.
The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, presented at the 1994 International Conference on the Diets of the Mediterranean held in July in San Francisco, is similar to USDA's Food Guide Pyramid. The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid positions meat at the very small tip beyond olive oils and sweets.
However, there are differences between the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid and USDA's Food Pyramid, including the impression that could be drawn from the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid that liberal amounts of certain types of fat can be healthy. While vegetable oils and unsaturated fat are preferable to more saturated fats to reduce the possibility of heart disease, most Americans need to reduce their intake of total fat because of the calories fat provides, as well as its link to certain types of cancer, according to USDA.
USDA unveils inspection reform legislation
During a Senate agriculture subcommittee hearing on proposed meat and poultry inspection legislation in August, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) criticized USDA for not providing a proposal promised nearly two years ago after a deadly outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 on the West Coast.
Daschle's criticism seems to have sparked action. USDA Secretary Mike Espy announced a bill on Sept. 14 that would require meat and poultry processors to test products for bacterial contamination. Daschle will sponsor the bill in the Senate.
"[The bill] will bolster our ability to enforce science-based food safety standards," Espy said.
If approved, the bill would add science to the system of inspection--which has been criticized by the industry, the General Accounting Office and consumer groups for spending millions of dollars and man-hours to visually inspect product for bacteria that cannot be seen by the naked eye.
The bill:
-- Gives USDA two years to write a regulation requiring tests for the presence of pathogens.
-- Requires USDA to establish scientifically acceptable levels of pathogens.
-- Calls for fines of up to $100,000 a day for safety violations and closure of habitual offenders.
-- Gives USDA the authority to recall contaminated products.
-- Requires the industry to trace contaminated animals from slaughterhouses to farms.
The requirement for tracing the history of contaminated animals is a concern for the livestock industry, which worries about excess paperwork.
"We do a pretty good job of trace-back now," says Alisa Harrison, spokeswoman for the National Cattlemen's Association.
-- Broadens animal quarantine laws to include conditions that, though harmless to animals, could cause disease in humans. The authority would allow USDA to block shipment of animals with harmful levels of pathogens.
While supporting the measure, AMI said a bill sponsored by Rep. Charles W. Stenholm (D-Texas), which asks the National Academy of Sciences to recommend a comprehensive overhaul of government inspection-including legislation, regulations and education-within six months, is the best inspection reform measure.
At a Senate agriculture subcommittee hearing in February 1993, less than a month after the E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak that killed four children and left hundreds ill, mostly in Washington state, Espy outlined several measures to combat bacterial contamination, most of which reflect the proposed legislation.
At the August hearing, Daschle criticized USDA for moving too slow in inspection reform legislation.
Sixteen outbreaks of E. coli 0157:H7 have been reported in 11 states since June 1, 1994 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been no deaths.