Inspection rule expected soon
FSIS anticipates writing its final rule for inspection reform by Dec. 31.
Michael R. Taylor, acting undersecretary for Food Safety, is sticking to the agency's original timetable that includes the beginning of implementation in 1996, a spokeswoman for FSIS told Meat Marketing & Technology.
The reform proposal, which includes mandatory Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point programs in meat and poultry plants, anti-microbial rinses, microbial testing and consistent temperature controls, was unveiled last February.
Since then, industry executives and congressional Republicans were able to get what they perceive to be a greater voice in the debate by threatening USDA with negotiated rule-making, which could have forced FSIS to throw out its proposal and begin anew.
The result has been six public hearings on the proposal and a food safety forum. The remarks from these seven discussions are included in the public comment, which will play a role in the final rule.
Taylor believes the hearings "have been very helpful in focusing the discussion of the proposal," the spokeswoman said.
FSIS had received 7,512 comments on its proposal as of Oct. 31.
Hog producers seek Indiana
vertically integrated pork plant
A hog producers' consortium wants to buy and reopen a closed Indiana pork processing operation owned by Cargill Inc.
Indiana Family Farms, a group of 350 hog producers, has signed a purchase agreement with Cargill, and hopes to have the sale of the Anderson, Ind., plant complete by the end of the month, Steve Dalton, a Jasper County, Ind., hog producer and member of Indiana Family Farms told MM&T. The plant, closed since March 1991, would employ 250 people.
Projected product sales from the plant range from $90 million and $145 million on the annual slaughter of about 750,000 hogs, according to Dalton.
Indiana Family Farms plans to invest $18 million to renovate the plant and buy new equipment. Renovation is expected to take six to eight months.
The purchase is viewed as significant because it vertically integrates a small segment of the pork industry, linking producers closer to the plant, Dalton said.
Products from the plant would be sold under the Indiana Family Farms label to fresh, high quality meat markets in the Midwest.
Congress wants inquiry into meatpacking concentration
There is concern in farm country that the emergence of a few large packers may mean less competition when farmers, ranchers and feedlot operators send livestock to market. Some packers operate their own feed lots or contract with feeders for livestock under a price formula.
So, while USDA continues work on a three-year-old study of concentration in the meatpacking industry, a group of farm state lawmakers is seeking a second inquiry.
Legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and in the House by Rep. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) that would force the Clinton administration to appoint a commission to conduct a second investigation. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman immediately voiced support for the legislation.
Lawmakers believe that USDA's current investigation, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year, is already outdated because it relies on data gathered in 1992 and 1993.
The legislation contends that meatpackers have manipulated the market to suppress livestock prices. Four companies-Dakota City, Neb.-based IBP inc., Greeley, Colo.-based Monfort Inc., Wichita, Kan.-based Excel Corp., and Kansas City, Mo.-based National Beef Packing Co.-control more than 80 percent of the industry.
The commission would analyze the effects of procurement practices on purchasing and pricing, examine the economics of vertical integration, and make recommendations regarding whether the laws relating to the operation of the meatpacking industry should be modified.
The legislation "is an effort to broaden the review," a spokesman for Daschle told MM&T.
Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) said President Clinton should not wait for the legislation; he should appoint a commission immediately.
The controversy surrounds ranchers, who have seen prices plummet in the past two years, and meatpackers who are said to be earning record profits. Since 1993, the price of a 500-pound calf has dropped from $500 to $300.
Many ranchers contend that a series of mergers among packers has played a role in the lower prices.
"People in my state think they are getting a raw deal," Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said in a news release. "We are only asking for a fair deal. We are asking for fair market."
In addition, Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.) has asked Clinton to appoint a blue-ribbon panel to review livestock pricing practices to see if farmers are getting a fair price.
If passed by Congress and signed by Clinton, the bill would make recommendations regarding price discovery and price reporting. The commission would be comprised of two representatives of the cattle industry, hog industry, lamb industry, experts in anti-trust laws, economists, corporate chief financial officers, and corporate procurement experts.
Reaction to the bill in the meat industry was split along processors and producer/packer lines.
The National Cattlemen's Association said the bill would "help assure cattle producers that laws governing livestock marketing, price discovery and packer concentration are being enforced."
Meanwhile, The National Meat Association said the commission should also include meat packers and processors, and AMI said the legislation "was unnecessary."
In a test of antitrust law, USDA filed a lawsuit earlier this year against IBP alleging that the meatpacking giant gave undue preference to a group of Kansas feedlots. IBP believes the contracts are legal.
Hormel workers OK contract
Workers at six Hormel Foods Corp. plants have approved a new contract that will raise wages for 2,700 workers, according to the United Food & Commercial Workers, the union representing the employees.
The contract, approved by about 2-to-1 margin, will boost the base wage rate to $12 an hour, and provide for better health and pension benefits. The new contract will be the best in the meatpacking industry, according to a union official.
The agreement covers workers at Hormel plants in Austin, Minn., Alogona, Iowa, Fremont, Neb., Beloit, Wis., Atlanta and Houston. Workers earlier rejected Hormel's initial contract offering by a 2-to-1 margin. Failure to ratify the latest proposal could have led to a strike.
Hudson to close Wichita plant; attempting to sell to Farmland
Hudson Foods Inc. will close its Wichita, Kan., processing plant next month, leaving about 300 people without jobs.
The plant, which produces ham, bacon and a variety of other luncheon meats under the Ohse and Roegelein brand names, will be shut down because it is "non-competitive in today's environment," according to Michael T. Hudson, president of the Rogers, Ark.-based company.
The 93-year-old plant was acquired by Hudson in 1987. Its last day of operation will be Jan. 13, and Hudson will help employees seek new jobs.
Meanwhile, negotiations continue between Hudson and Kansas City, Mo.-based Farmland Foods Inc. Farmland is attempting to purchase the Wichita plant, as well as Hudson's other luncheon meat plant in Topeka, Kan., which is remaining open. The acquisition would include the Ohse and Roegelein brand names.
'Mechanically separated' poultry to be identified as ingredient
USDA has issued a final rule that will require processors to list mechanically separated poultry as an ingredient in hot dogs, bologna, and other processed products such as "mechanically separated chicken" or "mechanically separated turkey."
"Mechanically separated poultry is significantly different in form and consistency from hand-deboned chicken or turkey and its presence should be reflected on the label," said Michael R. Taylor, USDA acting undersecretary for Food Safety. "Consumers have the right to know when products are made with mechanically separated poultry."
USDA received more than 2,400 comments on the proposal, mostly dealing with the need for labeling mechanically separated products. The rule takes effect Nov. 4, 1996.
Happy Days in Nebraska City
New Cargill processed meat products plant built thanks to a long-standing tradition
A technical error in the production of "A Happy Ending in Nebraska City" on page 27 of October's Meat Marketing & Technology resulted in that story not being fully printed. The following is that story in its entirety.
by Bryan Salvage, editor
People living in or near Nebraska City, Neb. (population 6,547), located about 45 miles south of Omaha and just west of the Iowa border, have a long-standing reputation for actively participating in worthy causes.
Back in 1852, the Allen Mayhew cabin-which is just down the road from a new Cargill processed meats plant near the junction of highways 2 and 75-served as a station on the secret Underground Railroad system that aided slaves seeking freedom. It was here that local townspeople sympathetic to militant anti-slavery advocate John Brown risked their lives to help runaway slaves make their way to Canada.
Much has changed in the area during the past 140 years, but the community's desire to actively participate in worthy causes remains as strong as ever. The latest cause was convincing Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. to replace its 50-year-old Nebraska City processed meats plant with a new plant in the Nebraska City area.
Moving fast
Local and Nebraska state officials found out that Cargill officials were considering closing the old Nebraska City plant and replacing it with a new one in either Kansas, Indiana or Arkansas. Since Cargill executives had a long-term relationship with Nebraska community and state officials, the company agreed to give them an opportunity to deliver a competitive financial package.
No time was wasted. The plan utilized LB840-a Local Option Municipal Economic Development Act-which authorizes cities to collect and appropriate local tax dollars from sales and/or property tax for economic purposes, according to the Nebraska Development News. This act had never been utilized before for such a project.
Much was at stake for the local community. If Cargill built its new plant in another state, 150 jobs would be lost-and those jobs translated into 2.3 percent of the city's population and provided an annual payroll of $3.4 million, excluding benefits. The fate of this issue was placed in the hands of local voters.
But before the vote took place, local and state officials, and Cargill employees, joined forces to win approval. Local and state officials supplied information on how to use LB840's property tax option; necessary statistics and information to be used in informational meetings, flyers and brochures; and the financial package. Plant employees next went into action.
"We would not have been able to build this new plant without the help of our employees," says Hugo Irizarry, the plant's general manager. "Although we've been here for decades, a lot of people in town didn't know what we did.
"We made the community aware of our business and situation," he adds. "We had tastings; we had floats in the Arbor Day parade. Our employees told people: 'We're a part of your town and we want to stay.' "
Thanks to this well-planned information campaign to persuade voters to approve a property tax increase to help finance the new plant, Nebraska City residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of the tax, which amounts to $50 a year on a $25,000 home. Forty percent of the voters turned out to voice approval-1,718 to 376, Nebraska Development News reported. The tax provides a levy of two-tenths percent on city property to go toward the economic development plan, which will raise $2.6 million over 10 years.
Double or nothing
For Nebraska City residents, this "double or nothing" venture will pay off with a total of 300 jobs by the end of 1996 at the new plant and a $5.9 million annual payroll. This equals an estimated $132,455 annually in added property tax revenue on the new plant site.
Beyond that, the new plant represents $2.4 million annually in 120 spin-off or retail jobs in the city, and $550,000 a year in projected local plant expenditures.
"What this means [the new plant remaining in Nebraska City] is instead of a lot of people's children and grandchildren having to leave town to find jobs elsewhere, we were able to keep our families together," Dave Messing, general manager of radio station KNCY in Nebraska City, tells Meat Marketing & Technology. "The jobs and added revenue are a big boost to the community. The community [members] voted to pay tax dollars out of their own pockets to create these jobs and create an opportunity to keep their families in town."
Dan Swanson, managing editor of the Nebraska City News-Press, adds: "The old plant employed 150 people; the expansion ultimately means that there will be 150 more jobs added.
Inspirational
"When we see a plant like the Cargill facility expanding in rural Nebraska, the impact is not just economical-it provides inspiration for the entire community," Says Swanson.
"We keep getting information about the decline in population in rural Nebraska," he adds. "The loss of population and leadership affects the communities, schools and our ability to grow and prosper.
"Nebraska City had $10 million in growth this year in assessed value, which is tremendous news for the community," Swanson explains. "We can lower our taxes on the individual, and we had $6 million in growth the year before. We're on the right track as far as economic development goes."
Swanson adds that the new plant should not have any trouble in hiring the needed additional employees.
"The new Cargill processed meats plant offers improvements over other production facilities in Otoe County," he points out. "At one manufacturer about 15 miles west of the new plant, you rarely find employees who are satisfied with working conditions or their wages.
"American Meter Co. [the largest Nebraska City employer located just east of the new Cargill plant] is paying some people $11 to $14 an hour, but some of these people have gone over to the new Cargill plant to start working at $5.50 or $6 an hour," Swanson says. "People at the new Cargill plant are happy with their jobs; they like it there. At this point, the new Cargill plant is generating a lot of enthusiasm."
Is Meat t Too Clean
Harmless Microorganisms Could Fight Pathogens
by Dennis Brown
Fresh meat does not contain enough harmless microorganisms to stop growth of low numbers of harmful bacteria.
As a result, food-borne pathogens cannot, and will not, be eliminated from fresh foods without destroying them by man-made means, according to a food microbiologist.
"We have gotten too pristine," noted James M. Jay, an adjunct professor of biological sciences at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. His solution? "Let Mother Nature help us by using innocuous harmless bacteria to control pathogens."
Jay, who spent most of his career teaching and researching food microbiology at Wayne State University, made his comments at the "Food Safety from Farm to Table: Strategies for Progress." The conference was sponsored by the Northwest Center for the Safety and Quality of Meat and Dairy Products, a coalition of researchers and food safety educators at Washington State University, the University of Idaho and Oregon State University.
Only about 20 food-borne microbial diseases are known. If allowed to grow, helpful bacteria can fend off harmful bacteria by producing substances that inhibit its growth by competing for nutrients or adhesion sites, or by creating an environment unfavorable for harmful bacteria's growth, Jay said.
He cited research dating back more than 100 years documenting the antagonistic effects of harmless bacteria toward food-borne bacterial pathogens, and spoilage bacteria.
French chemist and bacteriologist Louis Pasteur showed in 1877 that "common" bacteria inhibited anthrax organisms in urine.
Research papers on bacterial interference affecting human pathogens were published in 1895 and 1909.
Jay said between 1951 and 1968 clinical researchers published at least 20 papers demonstrating that non-injurious strains of staphylococcus aureus prevented colonization of epidemic virulent strains in newborns.
His solution to the E. coli 0157:H7 problem in meat is to reduce pathogens as much as possible with organic acid sprays, trisodium phosphate or steam pasteurization, and then to immediately inoculate carcasses with harmless bacteria.
Phil Tarr, associate professor of pediatrics and adjunct associate professor of microbiology at the University of Washington and a physician at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, told the group that just three colony-forming units of E. coli 0157:H7 a gram caused the 1993 outbreak that led to four deaths and hundreds of illnesses on the West Coast.
Jay contends that E. coli 0157:H7 did not emerge as a problem until total bacterial counts became so low that friendly bacteria could not keep E. coli in check.
"Since every food-borne pathogen ever recognized is still with us, it should be clear that we are not going to eliminate them," Jay stressed. "Our best hope is to contain them."