Ground beef sampling program to continue
Random testing of ground beef at supermarkets for E. coli 0157:H7 will remain a part of FSIS' food-safety agenda.
In a news conference, USDA Acting Undersecretary for Food Safety Michael R. Taylor confirmed that the retail meat sampling program will stay after USDA's pathogen-reduction plan, including microbiological testing and mandatory Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Point programs in meat and poultry plants, is put into effect.
Taylor, along with other USDA officials and officials from FDA, briefed reporters about their ongoing plans to rework the way the nation's food supply is tested and inspected.
At retail "our testing program will continue," Taylor said. "Obviously, contamination does begin at the slaughterhouse, but there is also opportunity for cross-contamination at retail.
The news conference expanded on the Dec. 29 Federal Register notice outlining four regulatory reform initiatives:
-- An advance notice of proposed rule-making describing USDA's reform plan, listing regulations identified for repeal or revision, and requesting comments on these and other rules needing reform.
-- A final rule expanding the kinds of product labels no longer requiring prior FSIS approval, and substituting one review for two.
-- A proposal to allow terms, such as "low-fat" or "light turkey" on products made with substitute ingredients that change the nutritional profile.
-- A proposal to eliminate duplicative rule-making by FDA and FSIS on substances that may be safely used in foods, including meat products.
McDonald's tosses McLean Deluxe overboard
Comedian Jay Leno said the hamburger appealed to a select group of McDonald's customers interested in nutrition-"all four of them."
A columnist for Gourmet magazine told USA Today: "You go to McDonald's for a big, greasy, fattening hamburger. If you want to eat dietetically, you go to some rabbit food restaurant."
These were some of the obituaries written for McLean Deluxe, McDonald's pioneering lean hamburger. The product was pulled from menus last month.
Five years ago amid much pomp and circumstance, Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's rolled out McLean Deluxe as a fast-food nutritious alternative. McLean used carrageenan to replace fat and bind the beef together, and contained 10 grams of fat and 340 calories.
But customers indicated the taste was poor and sales lagged.
The beef used in McLean Deluxe came from research done in low-fat technology led by Dale Huffman at Auburn University. Huffman believed that the problem was not the product. "McDonald's has teen-agers who don't know how to cook it," he told Meat Marketing & Technology in 1994. "That is why the hamburger [was] tough."
Spokeswoman Malesia Webb-Dunn said the decision was made because McDonald's is streamlining its menu. She refused to say that McLean Deluxe was a money loser.
When asked if McDonald's would ever re-enter the low-fat market, Dunn answered: "That is the $20 million question that I do not have an answer to."
California meat firm heads to Oklahoma
A California meat processing plant is relocating and opening a $10 million facility in Owasso, Okla., April 1.
National Steak & Poultry will relocate about 60 key management people, and add another 200 to 250 people during the next two to three years, according to CEO Steven A. Kormondy.
Construction of the new facility is about 90 percent complete, and an advance crew already is on site, he said. The plant is a $6 million construction investment, with another $4 million being spent on equipment.
All 60 employees relocating will be in Owasso within three months after the April opening, Kormondy said.
"Technically, this will be one of the most up-to-date [plants] in the industry," Kormondy noted. "It will have the best of everything in terms of design and layout. All the refrigeration will be monitored by computer."
National Steak & Poultry has been based in City of Industry, Calif., near Los Angeles, where it began as a supplier to California restaurants. National Steak & Poultry now provides marinated beef, poultry and pork products that are ready to grill, supplying restaurants nationwide, as well as in Canada and the Caribbean.
U.S. lodges hormone 'beef'; EU undeterred by action
The United States has formally lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the European Union's ban on meat from hormone-treated animals, but the Europeans signaled they would stand firm on the issue. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman said the complaint underscored the determination of U.S. officials to end what he called an unfair trade practice.
Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand have asked to join the talks.
The announcement follows months of pressure by the United States on the two nations to join consultations with the EU within the framework of the WTO to protest against the EU's refusal for the past eight years to allow imports of hormone-treated beef. "Although measures employed in Australia have allowed us to continue exporting meat to the EU, complying with the EU ban has cost our industry around $10 million [Australian] a year," Trade Minister Bob McMullan said.
U.S. cattle farmers lose $100 million in sales a year because of the EU ban.
"U.S. meat producers and exporters should be assured that our government will not allow bad science to be used as a non-tariff trade barrier," Glickman said in a statement.
U.S. officials contend the growth stimulants are safe.
Meanwhile, the EU will strongly defend its ban on imports of hormone-treated beef against a challenge by the United States in the World Trade Organization, Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler said.
Americans eating less fat
Americans, by one measurement, are eating less fat but still becoming obese because they eat too much and rarely exercise, a USDA study shows.
Data from a three-year study, "What We Eat in America," shows one-third of U.S. adults were overweight. Participants weighed 11 to 12 pounds more than those in a similar study in the late 1970s and consumed 6 percent more calories.
In a brighter note, the food survey said fat accounted for 33 percent of the diet, down from 40 percent in the late 1970s and 34 percent in a 1989 to 1991 survey. The government, in its "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," suggests holding fat to 30 percent of calories.
"We still consume low levels of the nutrient-packed dark green and deep yellow vegetables," noted Karl Stauber, USDA undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics. "The data show that American diets are changing in content, variety and where the foods are bought and eaten."
For example, Americans are eating more grain products, Stauber noted.
Consumption of grain mixtures, such as lasagna and pizza, increased 115 percent since the late 1970s. Snack foods, such as crackers, popcorn, pretzels and corn chips, have soared 200 percent, and ready-to-eat cereals are up 60 percent.
Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was skeptical Americans were turning their backs on fat. Other studies suggest people eat as much fat as ever but it was a smaller percentage of calories because Americans consumed more food, she said.
Two-thirds of Americans eat more fat than the Dietary Guidelines recommend, the survey said.
Survey results were based on interviews with 5,500 people of all ages in 1994 in which they were asked to recall what they ate over a two-day period. Researchers plan to collect data from 15,000 to 16,000 people over the life of the survey.
Health professional adds science to FSIS
I. Kaye Wachsmuth has been appointed assistant deputy administrator in FSIS' Science and Technology Program. She joins FSIS after positions at FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She chairs the Codex Committee for Food Hygiene, and is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food.
Wachsmuth has received recognition from the Department of Health and Human Services for epidemiological investigations of Legionnaire's disease, cholera, drug-resistant tuberculosis and hantavirus in the western United States.
Denny's goes veggie
Denny's, the nation's leading full-service, family restaurant chain, has put a meat alternative on the menu for its 1,500 eateries.
Denny's is offering the Veggie Burger as an alternative to traditional burgers to satisfy health and nutrition concerns, a spokeswoman told Meat Marketing & Technology.
"A concern for health has led many consumers to revise their diets," C. Ronald Petty, president and CEO of Denny's, said in a statement. "We offer our health-conscious guests a quality, non-meat burger option."
Denny's Veggie Burger features the meatless patty-comprised of mushrooms, brown rice, onions, rolled oats, water chestnuts, carrots, green and red bell peppers, black olives, and natural seasonings and spices-topped with lettuce and tomatoes. The 3.5-ounce patty has 133 calories and 2 grams of fat.
The Veggie Burger, processed by Columbus, Ohio-based Worthington Foods Inc., is the same meatless burger that is sold in retail outlets under the Morningstar Farms label.
NPPC wants U.S. to file complaint against Japan
Pork officials in the United States are pressing the Clinton administration to bring a new trade complaint against Japan to combat alleged corruption at Japanese ports that favors Taiwanese producers.
Al Tank, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, said the complaint is centered around what he called the "Nagoya Connection," named for the Japanese port where he said the corruption was centered.
Japanese port authorities are allowing the Taiwanese to under-invoice for pork imports, effectively bringing in more pork than they pay duty on, according to the complaint.
The United States lost at least $100 million in exports last year because of the practice, NPPC claimed. "Japan is allowing the Nagoya connection to occur, and severely impact the U.S. market share," Tank stressed.
A Japanese port official characterized the dispute as a misunderstanding. "There is no way port authorities could under-invoice imports," the official told Reuters.
A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office would not comment on the issue to MM&T
NPPC launches new advertising scheme
The National Pork Producers Council is continuing its aggressive plan to make pork the meat of choice in the United States.
A new phase of the "Taste What's Next" campaign began with advertisements before and during Super Bowl XXX. It is continuing with an additional $1.6 million during the next two months, blitzing the screen with advertisements in 15 national magazines, six weeks of cable commercials, and three television spots during the Barbara Walters interview special that airs before the Oscar awards on March 25. NPPC will also advertise on other Walters specials through August.
"We've changed our TV media strategy this year," noted Michelle Hanna, NPPC director of advertising. "Instead of the traditional continuity schedule of buying time for so many weeks in a row, we're targeting special events. It makes people think you are a bigger spender than you really are."
Hanna said she could not say if NPPC would advertise on future Super Bowls.
Annual pork consumption in the United States is at about 50 pounds per capita, second among protein sources behind beef. NPPC hopes to reach 60 pounds per capita by the end of the decade.