NATIONAL MEAT
ASSOCIATION h 1970
Broadway, Suite 825, Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-1533 Fax (510) 763-6186 h Email Address: [email protected] h http://www.nmaonline.org
Edited by Kiran Kernellu
April 7, 2003
MEETING WITH SECRETARY VENEMAN – ONE WEEK LATER
As we reported last week, NMA’s Executive Director Rosemary Mucklow
participated in the industry meeting with Secretary Ann Veneman last Monday.
NMA has great difficulty with the Secretary’s view that USDA needs additional
authority when USDA has been unable to identify the problem(s) such new
authorities would solve.
The meat and poultry industries have a strong, vested interest in
producing food that is safe to eat. This is not a “blame the consumer”
philosophy if there is illness, but with today’s scientific and technological
knowledge, it is unrealistic to assume that raw meat and poultry are safe to
eat without final food preparation involving cooking. Today’s technology
dictates that consumers accept responsibility for being part of the food
preparation chain, including appropriate food handling to prevent cross
contamination, proper refrigeration, and, of course, proper cooking to destroy
pathogens. An alternative might be that all food be sterilized, such as canned,
or that it be irradiated, or that all our food be delivered to us in the form
of MREs such as are being consumed by our soldiers in the Iraq War. Most
Americans appear to accept responsibility for properly handling the food they
and their families are going to eat.
Consumers have a right to expect that ready-to-eat foods are safe to
eat straight out of the package. Slow-growing, cold-tolerant Listeria
monocytogenes poses a problem, since it may be undetectable at the time of
packaging, but may grow in the package during shelf life. New inhibition
technologies to combat this pathogen’s ability to grow in the package at
refrigerated temperatures are showing great promise. These new technologies are
similar to technologies developed years ago to assure the safety of dry
sausage, certain cheeses, and even yogurt, using an inhibitor known as “starter
cultures.” Unfortunately, the bureaucratic hurdles to approve new technologies
to enhance safety grind slowly, and the delays fall between the cracks of
different government agencies. NMA is hopeful that the Secretary understood the
message from various attendees at last week’s meeting, and that she will use
her office to work with her counterparts at the Food & Drug Administration
to get these technologies into the marketplace.
Food safety will not be improved by additional enforcement authority to
close companies. The Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) has already
indicated that the training of its workforce in food sciences needs substantial
improvement. A signal failure in the implementation of the 1996 Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Rule was refusal by USDA to engage in joint
training with the industry. USDA leaders preferred to utilize the enforcement
“gotcha” technique. Rejection in the federal court system of unbridled use of
enforcement authority should not now be the Secretary’s rationale to seek
additional enforcement authority. Rather, it should motivate her to ask what
went wrong in the implementation of HACCP, and how can it be fixed?
NMA has some strong views on these questions. First, at last week’s
meeting, we presented the Secretary data from FSIS’s Quarterly Reports (see
page 3 for table) on the appeal system for Non Compliance Records (NRs).
Fundamental flaws in this first line enforcement tool distort the food safety
record. The system it replaced, graduated Process Deficiency Records (PDRs) in
the Performance Based Inspection System (PBIS) program, better reflected
compliance. Second, FSIS has chosen to mandate Critical Control Points (CCPs),
which are not supported by science. It has done this as a matter of “regulatory
HACCP.” If U.S. food safety systems are to be the world leader, then we need to
resolve these serious differences. Finally, the tradition of “continuous
inspection” was previously exercised through a line-inspection system. Today,
principals and managers of official establishments are the target of various
officials from different parts of the agency, all bearing the badge of
authority. Quite often, the authority of the line inspection officials assigned
to the plant is at worst ignored, and often over-ruled, sidestepped, or just
plain disregarded. This puts plant managers at the command of several different
officials (the IIC, Circuit Supervisor and District Manager, Compliance
Officers, Consumer Safety Officers, Correlation Teams, IDV teams, and more).
This usually occurs at a time of crisis, when plant managers’ first
responsibility in the name of protecting the public health is to identify and
recover product in the marketplace, and address an in-plant system that may
have a serious defect.
It’s time for a responsible evaluation of the effectiveness of USDA’s HACCP and Pathogen Reduction programs. Problems or deficiencies should be clearly identified and appropriate solutions should be tailored to address them. To date, all evidence suggests that problems that are not scientific are causing delays in deployment of new food safety technologies. With the courts delivering substantial judgments against FSIS based on some officials abusing authority, it is not a time for USDA to seek additional enforcement authority.
Page 2
MEALS READY TO EAT
The Wall Street
Journal (WSJ) reported Friday on Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), or field rations, being
fed to our soldiers in Iraq. WSJ critic Raymond Sokolov sampled retail
versions of the MREs supplied to our Armed Forces by Wornick Co. of McAllen,
TX. He sampled all six of the menus available to the general public. (The
military has access to 24 meals.)
While the recommendation is to eat the meals cold, Sokolov
found that they “taste particularly flat eaten right out of the khaki bag,”
since most of them lack enough salt. Sokolov declared the “Turkey with Savory
Vegetables” the best entrée of the six that also included “Parmesan Chicken,” “Beef
Stew,” “Vegetarian Pasta Fagioli,” “Beef Chili with Red Beans,” and “Spaghetti
and Meatballs.” Some of the items included in the meals are an orange drink,
jam, crackers, oatmeal cookies, and fruit. Sokolov commented, “… while no one
would confuse these vacuum-packed morsels with gourmet meals, we actually found
a few culinary surprises.” Still, he concluded that “just a few of [the cycles
of the 24 menus] should raise any grunt’s incentive to storm Baghdad…”
NMA/SMA ANNUAL
D.C. TRIP
Leaders
of NMA and Southwest Meat Association (SMA) will make their annual visit to
Washington, D.C. April 8-10, 2003. We invite our members to join us in meeting
with legislators and regulators and helping to inform them about the industry.
Please call the NMA office at 510-763-1533 if you need more information to
attend.
ELECTRONIC
NEWSLETTER
Lean Trimmings and
Herd on the Hill are offered electronically. If you’d like to receive
the newsletter via e-mail, please contact Kiran Kernellu at [email protected] or 510-763-1533.
Receive the latest news every Monday afternoon in your Inbox instead of waiting
for it in the mail!
NMA reports news items that are of special interest to
its readers, and provides information that they may want to be able to
access. Below are links to the Federal
Register, AMS, APHIS, and FSIS, respectively:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
ANIMAL
HANDLING VIDEOS
NMA has available two videotapes on animal handling,
“Animal Stunning for Stunners,” and “Animal Handling in Meat Plants.” NMA
members may purchase these videos at a discounted price. Please contact Julie
Ramsey at [email protected]
or 510-763-1533 for more information.
Page 3
BEEF
INDUSTRY FOOD SAFETY COUNCIL STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
The Beef Industry Food Safety Council (BIFSCo)
Steering Committee met in Denver, CO last week to continue the checkoff-funded E.
coli Summit of January 7-8, 2003. NMA’s Executive Director Rosemary Mucklow
was in attendance. At the meeting, BIFSCo members
reviewed the “Interventions, Best Practices and Research Plan” across industry
sectors.
Over 200 Summit participants have been drafting and
editing these documents since January.
The Plan is expected to begin rolling out in 45 days and will serve as a
road map for the sectors in reducing E. coli O157:H7. Once it is complete, a complimentary copy
will be available online at http://www.bifsco.org/. “This initiative is becoming the principle platform
for E. coli management because it has been able to connect individual
sector plans and facilitate expectation sharing across sectors. We are pleased USDA has recognized the
industry’s commitment and leadership, and we are particularly encouraged by the
Secretary’s interest in investing in research to expedite identification of new
and effective tools,” said Rosemary Mucklow.
“This
Plan will be a ‘living document’ for the entire beef production chain. It will set out what we know to date as
effective interventions, best practices and promising research. Each industry sector and individual
operation will be able to look to it for the most up-to-date understanding of
how to best reduce the incidence of this pathogen,” said James O. Reagan,
Ph.D., vice president, research and knowledge management, National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association (NCBA), in a press release.
BIFSCo
members include Summit working group chairs and other Summit participants who
will update this plan on an ongoing basis as science sheds light on new
pathogen-control solutions. BIFSCo members also discussed the possibility of creating a
database to house E. coli data throughout the chain. Individual company data would be blinded and
confidential. While development of such
a database is in the preliminary discussion stage, participants anticipate that
it would be used to track pathogen-control progress overall and would allow
individual operations to evaluate themselves against a benchmark. “We continue to
look for ways to accomplish our database vision. An industry-wide database would truly improve our ability to
understand and thereby manage O157:H7,” said Tim Biela, vice president of food
safety and quality assurance, Texas American Foodservice and sector leader for
processing.
An executive summary of the Beef Industry E. coli
Summit was published shortly after the January meeting, and can be viewed at www.beef.org under “Research.” The executive summary was mailed out to NMA
general members. NMA members contact Kiran Kernellu at 510-763-1533 or [email protected] to request a copy
by mail.
FSIS QUARTERLY REPORT DATA ON
ISSUANCE OF NONCOMPLIANCE REPORTS (NR), APPEALS
AND THEIR DISPOSITION, JANUARY 1998 THROUGH JUNE 2002
|
|
Total No. |
No. of NR |
Appeals |
Appeals |
Appeals |
No. of plants |
|
Quarter |
NR Issued |
Appeal |
Granted |
Denied |
Pending |
Filling App. |
|
3rd-
02 |
33,859 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
2nd-
02 |
31,367 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
1st- 02 |
30,949 |
346 |
75 |
137 |
134 |
141 |
|
4th- 01 |
31,559 |
180 |
7 |
39 |
134 |
95 |
|
3rd- 01 |
36,639 |
299 |
85 |
120 |
94 |
102 |
|
2nd-
01 |
34,415 |
244 |
61 |
114 |
69 |
101 |
|
1st- 01 |
29,891 |
255 |
69 |
136 |
50 |
108 |
|
4th- 00 |
29,762 |
285 |
55 |
94 |
136 |
109 |
|
3rd- 00 |
37,166 |
346 |
87 |
137 |
122 |
117 |
|
2nd-
00 |
35,369 |
269 |
60 |
144 |
65 |
106 |
|
1st- 00 |
35,429 |
227 |
53 |
138 |
36 |
102 |
|
4th- 99 |
33,944 |
158 |
38 |
79 |
41 |
72 |
|
3rd- 99 |
55,090 |
246 |
42 |
141 |
63 |
90 |
|
2nd-
99 |
39,579 |
240 |
44 |
142 |
44 |
87 |
|
1st- 99 |
44,507 |
294 |
96 |
175 |
23 |
109 |
|
4th- 98 |
43,447 |
498 |
109 |
335 |
54 |
161 |
|
3rd- 98 |
57,651 |
380 |
86 |
280 |
14 |
122 |
|
2nd-
98 |
59,385 |
342 |
76 |
208 |
58 |
105 |
|
1st- 98 |
59,867 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
Page
4
WORKERS COMP INSURANCE HITTING BUSINESSES HARD
The cost of workers comp insurance is skyrocketing throughout the
nation, especially in California.
Members of the California State Legislature Joint Republican Caucus,
which includes 15 Senate Republicans and 32 Assembly Republicans, urged
Governor Davis to convene a special session to deal specifically with the
rising fees of workers comp insurance and its impact on the economy. From farmers to non-profit organizations,
increasing costs have forced businesses to scale back services, raise costs and
lay off employees. The legislators
stated that reform is needed to make the workers’ compensation system fair and
affordable while eliminating the opportunity for fraud. Reduced number of providers, rising medical
costs, fraud, and increased benefits have mainly contributed to the
ever-increasing cost of insurance.
Another concern includes the ability for businesses to obtain insurance
altogether. What is needed is a
positive solution to stimulate the economy and a system that is workable and
affordable for both employers and workers.
California
NMA members participating in the State Compensation Insurance Fund Group
Insurance Program should contact their elected representative to voice their
concerns. As an association we can
enhance the workers comp program by providing additional support with safety
programs and educational teleconferences at no or minimal costs to
members. It is crucial that California
develop and maintain a sound business climate.
COMMENTS ON COOL DUE APRIL
9
Comments on AMS’ interim voluntary guidelines
on COOL are due April 9, 2003. You can view additional information and comments
already submitted by visiting http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/.
STANDARDIZING MEAT LABELING
The Associated Press recently reported that the USDA is under pressure from all sectors of the food industry to specify what marketing terms mean. To clear up the confusion a proposal outlining what companies may say about meat has been put forth. These standards would define claims about the use of antibiotics, the animal’s diet and other marketing tools. The agency has not set a date for when the proposal will take effect.
NATIONAL MEAT ASSOCIATION
NMA - East: 1400 - 16th St. N.W., Suite 400, Washington D.C. 20036 Ph. (202)
667-2108
NMA - West: 1970
Broadway, Suite 825, Oakland, CA 94612 Ph. (510) 763-1533 Fax (510) 763-6186
Edited by Kiran Kernellu
April 7, 2003
STANDARDS FOR LIVESTOCK AND MEAT MARKETING CLAIMS
Last month NMA responded to an Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Federal Register notice and request for comments entitled, “United States Standards for Livestock and Meat Marketing Claims,” which was published on December 30, 2002. View the notice at:http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2002/02-32806.htm. NMA commented that the “standards for livestock and meat marketing claims, under the oversight of USDA/AMS Standardization Branch, have provided an increasingly valuable marketing opportunity during the past fifteen years.”
NMA also commended the
agency for moving forward to publish the basic requirements so that they may be
known as a matter of public record, and for providing more information about
the process to make claims. “Quite frankly, it is important that the standard
for any such marketing claims be truthful, and that the standard set in Rubin
v. Coors Brewing Company decided by the United States Supreme Court on
April 19, 1995, which affirms the right to commercial free speech by the First
Amendment, be the standard.” NMA’s comments include the following quote from
Justice Stevens’ concurrence in that Opinion:
“A truthful statement about the alcohol content of malt beverages would receive full First Amendment protection in any other context; without some justification tailored to the special character of commercial speech, the Government should not be able to suppress the same truthful speech merely because it happens to appear on the label of a product for sale.”
NMA members contact Kiran Kernellu at 510-763-1533 or [email protected] for a copy of the comments in full.
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR
FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY REGULATORY SERVICES
Cindy Smith has been named
deputy administrator for biotechnology regulatory services (BRS) in USDA’s
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This newly formed APHIS
program was created as a result of a restructuring of APHIS’ biotechnology
regulatory functions in June 2002. BRS is responsible for regulation of the
import, interstate movement and field testing of plants and arthropods in its
goal to provide global adoption of policies for the safe use of biotechnology.
Smith holds a B.S. in
microbiology and a master’s in management from the University of Maryland. She
began her career with APHIS in 1979, in varying roles with plant protection and
quarantine, biotechnology, biologics and environmental protection and wildlife
services. She most recently served as associate deputy administrator of
wildlife services and as acting deputy administrator for biotechnology
regulatory services. “Cindy has many years of experience with APHIS and is one
of our agency’s most talented leaders,” said APHIS Administrator Bobby Acord.
“All of us at APHIS welcome Cindy in her new role in ensuring the success of
this new organization.”
Page 2
USDA
INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS ON COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING
The Agricultural Marketing Service announced the following dates and
locations for the listening and education sessions on the Country of Origin
Labeling law included in the 2002 Farm Bill. All sessions will be from 1:00 –
4:00 p.m. local time.
|
April 29 -- Raleigh, N.C. |
May 8 -- Kearney, Neb. |
June 12 -- Sacramento, Calif. |
|
Jim Graham Building |
University of Nebraska at Kearney |
California - EPA HQ |
|
Hall of Fame Room |
905 West 25th St. |
Joe Serna Jr. Building |
|
1025 Blue Ridge Road |
Kearney, Neb. 68849 |
Central Valley Auditorium |
|
Raleigh, N.C. 27607 |
|
1001 I St. |
|
|
|
Sacramento, Calif. 95814 |
|
May 1 -- Austin, Texas |
May 14 -- Orlando, Fla. |
|
|
William B. Travis Bldg, Rm. 1-111 |
Orange County Admin Bldg. |
June 19 -- Baton Rouge, La. |
|
1701 North Congress Ave. |
Board of County Comm. Chambers |
S. Univ. Ag. Research & Ext. Ctr. |
|
Austin, Texas 78711 |
201 South Rosalind |
B.A. Little Drive |
|
|
Orlando, Fla. 32801 |
Baton Rouge, La. 70813 |
|
May 2 -- Pasco, Wash. |
|
|
|
Red Lion Hotel |
June 4 -- Cody, Wyo. |
June 24 -- St. Paul, Minn. |
|
2525 North 20th Ave. |
Holiday Inn |
University of Minnesota |
|
Pasco, Wash. 99301 |
1701 Sheridan Ave. |
Earle Brown Continuing Ed Ctr. |
|
|
Cody, Wyo. 82414 |
1890 Buford Ave. |
|
May 6 -- Kansas City, Mo. |
|
St. Paul, Minn. 55108 |
|
Hilton Kansas City Airport |
June 6 -- Billings, Mont. |
|
|
8801 NW 112th St. |
Holiday Inn |
June 26 -- Lancaster,
Pa. |
|
Kansas City, Mo. 64153 |
5500 Midland Road |
Lancaster Farm and Home Center |
|
|
Billlings, Mont. 59101 |
1383 Arcadia Road |
|
|
|
Lancaster, Pa. 17601 |
COOL COMPLIANCE COSTS
Drover’s Alert reported
Thursday that estimated compliance costs of COOL exceed $8 billion, and that
figure is just for the beef industry! In the report Texas A&M University
professor of livestock Ernie Davis said that the estimated compliance cost of country-of-origin labeling is $8.9
billion for the beef industry. Davis gave his estimate with a breakdown as
follows: $1.3 billion for cow-calf producers, $9 million for stocker operators,
$23 million for feedyards, $688 million for packers and $6.9 billion for
retailers.
SYSCO ACQUISITION
SYSCO Corp. is expected to close a deal at the end of this month to purchase the specialty meat-cutting division of the Colorado Boxed Beef Co. of Auburndale, FL, and its affiliated foodservice operation, J&B Foodservice, for incorporation into SYSCO’s Buckhead Beef subsidiary.
ROUNDTABLE SEMINAR TAPES
Audio tapes of the interactive roundtable seminars at NMA’s 57th
Annual Convention are now available! Don’t miss out on the thought-provoking
and challenging questions and answers from experts and attendees during these
twelve sessions: Preventing H7; What Works; Making RTE Products Safe;
Sampling & Testing Methods; The Workplace Q&A; Industry Consolidation;
Security: Business & Industry; Managing the Paper Trail; Standards for
HACCP Validation; Industry-Government Working Together; COOL or NOT COOL! &
Nutrition; Telling the Meat Industry Story; and Moving Forward with Branded
Meats. Contact NMA at [email protected]
or 510-763-1533 to request an order form.