By Bryan Salvage
Working in the meat industry on any given day can be as comfortable-or uncomfortable-as taking the two-hour flight over the Rocky Mountains from Reno to Denver. The flight may begin smoothly and the sky may be crystal clear, and then-WHAM!-you're jolted by unexpected, invisible turbulence.
There's no issue in the American meat industry that can cause business turbulence like a food safety issue. A special report within this issue of Meat Marketing & Technology (page 42) focuses on major meat safety challenges, as well as some of the successes in meeting such challenges.
In order to get a variety of perspectives for this article, I talked with Michael R. Taylor, USDA acting undersecretary for Food Safety; Craig Morris, AMI manager of scientific and technical affairs; Kyle Gould, manager of technical education and food safety of the Educational Foundation-the training arm of the National Restaurant Association; and Karen Brown, Food Marketing Institute senior vice president.
I was particularly interested in what Taylor would say. He began by telling MM&T: "We need to move forward to take food safety up to a new level in the meat industry. We have to move forward in building a science-based process control philosophy and techniques into the meat production process. This is what HACCP [Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point program] is all about."
When it comes to improving food safety, both the American meat industry and FSIS clearly recognize the important role that technological innovation can play, he adds.
"During the past 15 months or so, it has been a priority to ensure that FSIS is working positively with industry to evaluate and incorporate food safety technologies into production systems," Taylor notes. "A year ago, we made a decision with respect to the conversion of the final carcass wash to an antimicrobial treatment, [thus eliminating] the prior plant-by-plant approval requirement for that particular technological innovation.
"I hope we cleared the way for more rapid incorporation of that technology ... and that we sent a signal that we intend to systematically seek to encourage technology [development and use to enhance food safety]," he points out.
Food safety advances
Last April, FSIS' new Technology Assessment and Research Coordination division was launched as a focal point for review of protocols for in-plant trials of new technologies. "We recognize that technological innovation is an important part of the solution to improving food safety," Taylor says.
Several very important technologies have already come through this process, he points out. Early in 1995, FSIS approved large-scale commercial test trials (request submitted by IBP inc.) of the steam vacuum technology. Later in the year, FSIS approved Excel Corp.'s petition FSIS on the steam pasteurization process it was developing with Frigoscandia Inc. And in October, FSIS approved commercial trials of a Monfort Inc. process to remove hair and external contaminants from cattle prior to the slaughter process.
Taylor praises these meat companies.
"All three of these companies have shown leadership, and they are investing in technologies to improve food safety," he points out. "During the past few years, the public's high expectations concerning the safety of their food has been brought to bear on the meat industry. There are real food safety issues out there, including the very difficult problem of E. coli 0157:H7.
"But we also have a real opportunity to effectively meet those high public expectations as we work to incorporate the kinds of scientific process controls into the systems that HACCP embodies," he cautions. "I feel positive about the future and the opportunities we have to significantly improve food safety in a way that will work extremely well for consumers and the industry."
More companies will hopefully act as leaders to enhance meat safety in 1996.