FSIS administrator's speech, contemporary sessions capture interest at AMI Convention
FSIS Administrator Michael R. Taylor's speech captured most everyone's attention.
By Bryan Salvage and Larry Aylward
Attendees are still talking about the 1994 AMI Convention. And the talk has spilled into the courtroom.
Michael R. Taylor delivered his first public address as FSIS administrator at the September convention held in San Francisco. During his speech, Taylor shocked many when he announced FSIS' new five-point regulatory policy on E. coli 0157:H7 in raw ground beef. One policy point stresses that FSIS considers raw ground beef contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 to be "adulterated" within the meaning of the Federal Meat Inspection Act. Another policy point states that targeted sampling and testing of raw ground beef will take place at plants and retail operations.
AMI and other co-plaintiffs, including the Food Marketing Institute, have since filed a lawsuit to halt the policy (see page 10).
The convention, however, will also be remembered for the AMI Foundation-sponsored educational conferences that focused on hot issues of the day relating to food safety and meat technology research, public relations and crisis management, marketing and distribution (with a special emphasis on the Efficient Consumer Response program), and environmental initiatives and regulations.
Taylor's first speech
In addition to announcing FSIS' new policy on E. coli in raw ground beef, Taylor's presentation focused on the continuing need to ensure safe food and clean plants-and future FSIS plans. He spoke of the need to move beyond the politics of food safety to a collective search for real solutions to the problem of food safety.
"Our [FSIS and industry] goal is the same-a food supply that is as safe as the modern tools of science and technology can make it," Taylor said.
The public expects the meat industry and government to do everything reasonably possible to ensure food safety. FSIS' current inspection program does not meet public expectation, Taylor said.
"We do not deal directly [or] scientifically enough with the microbial pathogens that can make people sick," Taylor said. "We do not take full advantage of the tools of microbiology to ensure that preventive controls are in place to reduce the risk of harmful contamination and to verify that those controls are working."
The public expects the tools of microbiology to be built into the system of government oversight today, he stated. The inspection must target and take effective action to reduce or eliminate bacteria that can make people sick, Taylor added.
"That is a fair expectation for people to have of us," Taylor said. "It is an expectation we intend to meet."
FSIS is planning to begin the rule-making process required to determine how mandatory in-plant microbial testing can be best incorporated into its inspection program. FSIS will also review sanitation regulations to consider whether the responsibility of plant management for sanitation should be made "more explicit."
FSIS intends to issue an updated version of its Sanitation Handbook before Dec. 31.
"I want to emphasize that as we step up our focus on microbial pathogens, we will not lose sight of the basic need for good sanitation," Taylor stressed.
Topic of discussion: food safety
Not surprisingly, maintaining and improving food safety-particularly the ongoing battle against E. coli 0157:H7 in beef-was the topic of discussion in many other presentations.
Wilda Martinez, assistant deputy administrator of agri products and human nutrition sciences for USDA's Agricultural Research Service, spoke of the need to prioritize and conduct research "as a team."
"Careful consideration must be given to research choices being made," she said. "No one sector or researcher can make a choice independent from others. Interactive [industry, government, academia] teamwork is needed."
Ronald Johnson, director of the Pacific Region for FDA, said the size and diversity of the food industry coupled with the increasing number of food imports is internally stressing FDA [food] law enforcement programs.
"We're consuming more commercially prepared foods than ever before," he added. "And there is an increased demand for fresh, convenience foods."
He described FDA's moves toward a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point program for seafood as one example on how an industry can help ensure food safety.
"Our movement into HACCP reflects change in the way we have done business," Johnson said. "There is a new paradigm in food safety regulation. This will mean more responsibility for industry, but it will result in safer food."
ECR sessions draw crowds
The Efficient Consumer Response program is not new, but the industry is still trying to grasp the concept. It is a cross-industry strategy designed to take costs out of the supply system and provide consumers with products at a fair price.
Kenneth W. Wager, vice president of procurement and inbound logistics for Spartan Stores, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based grocery store chain, said there are four tendencies to ECR: efficient store assortments, replenishment, promotion and product development.
Wager said the meat industry must deal with the same challenges faced by any supply chain, including category management and expertise, continuous replenishment programs, activity-based costing, and support of new replenishment practices.
"The fresh meat business is moving from a commodity basis to a product basis," Wager noted, adding that packers and processors need to better understand the basic elements of ECR and be proactive toward process change, systems upgrades, consumer alignment and strategic customer relationships.
"Forecasting systems are poor at retail-wholesale-packer levels, creating significant added costs to all segments," Wager claimed. "Yet no one in the meat industry has stepped forward to help drive new systems based on consumer pull."
Wager challenged meat industry management personnel to "embrace change, take risks and drive efficiency and effectiveness with a consumer mindset at all times."
Managing crisis
Handling product withdrawals and recalls was the focus of one public relations and crisis management session. If a company expects to deal successfully with an accident, it should have in place a dependable crisis management system, said Paul Clayton, vice president for product integrity and food safety for Greeley, Col.-based ConAgra Red Meat Cos.
Meat companies must be in total control during a crisis, he added. A company should employ a team to oversee the situation during a product recall or withdrawal.
"Each team member should have a responsibility or there will be a lot of confusion," Clayton said. "A company has to be able to access that team at any time."
These team members must be prepared to act at any time, agreed James Aehl, public relations manager for Madison, Wis.-based Oscar Mayer Foods Corp.
"There's a tendency to not want to face bad news, but a company's credibility depends on talking to people," Aehl said. "In bad-news times, don't run and hide."
Media Consultant Jack Franchetti stressed the importance of building a strong relationship with the local media. He pointed out that a company will be handled more fairly during a crisis by reporters who know the company's personnel and operations.
"Don't worry about admitting a blemish," he added. "Don't be afraid to call a news conference."
What's new?
AMI and the AMI Foundation introduced a number of new tools for industry during the convention. "HACCP: The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System in the Meat and Poultry Industry" is the first HACCP manual specifically geared to the meat and poultry industries.
It offers step-by-step instructions to assist companies in developing HACCP plans. The manual provides HACCP plans for 16 meat and poultry products, and includes chapters on controlling microbiological, chemical and physical hazards in plants. The manual has a closing chapter on managing, auditing and revising HACCP plans. A new HACCP training video, "Occupational Worker Safety and Health Audit Protocol for Company Self Audits," is designed to help plant managers to stay in compliance with the 20 major areas that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cites for violations in industrial America.
"Public Relations Handbook for the Meat and Poultry Industry" contains material on how to contact the media, plan a news conference, deal with cameras, keep hidden cameras out of plants, and build good public relations with local media and the community.
Awards presented
During the convention, the Supplier of the Year award was given to Townsend Engineering Co.; Fred Usinger Inc. won the Edward C. Jones Community Service Award; and Paul Fuller, formerly of the Agricultural Marketing Service, received the Meat Industry Advancement Award.
Bryan: Industry Needs to Get On the Offensive
by Larry Aylward, managing editor
George Bryan, AMI's newly elected chairman, sounds like a football coach discussing the details of an an important game when addressing the Xs and Os of the meat industry.
"We seem to be more on the defensive; we have to be more on the offensive," Bryan said of the industry and the stance it should take in its response to general criticism.
"There are always going to be people taking potshots at us," says Bryan, senior vice president of Sara Lee Corp., Memphis, Tenn. "But we should be able to overcome them."
The industry has been an easy target of criticism for special interest groups and animal rights' activists. There is also criticism voiced in Washington, particularly from FSIS.
Bryan admits the industry sometimes backs down after being berated. He suggests that industry fight for its image.
"We have to be more proactive," he states. "In a balanced diet, meat is good for everybody. We need to talk about the benefits of meat. We don't do that."
The grandson of the owner of a small, rural Mississippi meat market, Bryan began his career in 1964 with Bryan Foods, which was founded by his father and uncle in 1936.
He touted AMI's proactive research and education initiatives relating to food safety, specifically AMI's development of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system. Bryan says he'll work toward meeting the long-range goals outlined by preceding AMI chairmen Lee Lochmann, president and chief operating officer of ConAgra Meat Products Cos., and Doug Odom, chairman of Odom's Tennessee Pride Sausage Inc.
One of the goals is to continue to work toward modernization of the meat and poultry inspection system.
"I've seen a lot of changes in the 30-plus years I've been in the business, but I haven't seen a lot of changes in the inspection system," he says.
Bryan admits that many consumers lack faith in the food safety system.
"It's imperative that we have a strong science and process control system like HACCP to show the American people that we are concerned," he adds.
Bryan also acknowledges that the industry has become fractured into different segments.
"And we've had different people advocating different solutions to one particular problem," he adds. "It's hard to get through to the government that way."
Every group in the meat and poultry chain-including producers, and foodservice and retail operations-must work to develop a unified voice, Bryan says.
Also elected to the AMI board were: Vice Chairman Carl Kuehne, CEO of American Foods Group; Secretary Mary Alice McKenzie, president and CEO of John McKenzie Packing; and Treasurer Joel Johnson, president and CEO of Hormel Foods.