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
May 12, 2003
NEBRASKA
BEEF LITIGATION
NMA reported last week that
Nebraska Beef, Ltd. filed two Complaints in the U. S. District Court for the
District of Nebraska. The first alleges Breach of Contract by USDA (the Consent
Decision of January 27, 2003), Violation of Plaintiff’s Right to Due Process,
and Action in contravention to USDA’s statutory authority. It seeks injunctive
relief. The other suit filed against
five named USDA officials, and four not named, alleges they have knowingly
and/or recklessly violated the Plaintiff’s Constitutional rights, and have
conspired and/or agreed to violate Plaintiff’s rights to due process. This latter type of complaint is known as a
“Bivens” lawsuit. Both Actions request a jury trial.
Nebraska
Beef, Ltd. initiated the legal actions after receiving and responding to an
almost unprecedented letter from the Director of the Evaluation &
Enforcement Division, Program Evaluation, Enforcement and Review (PEER)
requiring it to show cause of an alleged critical limit deviation.
At NMA press
time, no date had been set for a hearing in the Court.
FSIS STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS
NMA has
expressed its concern about the organizational structure of the Office of Field
Operations (OFO) at FSIS repeatedly since the major reorganization in 1996 that
eliminated five regional offices, and established 18 district offices, since
reduced to fifteen. In our view, the
span of supervisory control for the Deputy Administrator for OFO was too broad
to be effective. Bill Smith, the current Deputy Administrator of OFO, has tried
a couple of adjustments to address this problem. OFO is trying to use an informal assignment of staff positions in
Washington that report to the Deputy Administrator for various Districts. Those assignments are:
Dr. Ken Petersen Dr. John Prucha Judy Riggins Jeanne Axtel Atlanta Albany Alameda Beltsville
Jackson Madison Boulder Dallas
Lawrence Minneapolis Chicago Des Moines
Springdale Philadelphia Raleigh
The other
major problem of concern to NMA and its members is confusion in the reporting
lines. For instance, there are two
kinds of Compliance Officers: those who report to Program Evaluation,
Enforcement & Review (PEER) and those who report to the District Manager
(DM). Officials who have split
responsibilities (i.e. that may report to both PEER and OFO) or officials with
the same title but reporting to different line supervisors is very confusing. Further, there are other officials,
including the new Consumer Safety Officers, and IDV teams, who appear to have
the ability to initiate regulatory action in establishments separate from the
traditional Inspector-in-Charge actions.
When several different officials, all bearing the badge of official USDA
take action, industry managers can get confused. Further, the role of the Technical Center gets diluted with every
new field official action. This is unfortunate, since the Tech Center guidance
was expected to be a “leveler” to help improve consistency.
District
Managers are meeting with the key officials of OFO in Chicago this week. We
hope that some better structural order may be forthcoming.
FISCAL
YEAR 2003 PURCHASES
NMA has available information on the purchases for
Fiscal Year 2003. NMA members contact Kiran Kernellu at [email protected] or 510-763-1533
for a copy.
Page 2
WISCONSIN’S
CWD SURVEILLANCE
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released the analysis of results from
nearly 40,000 deer submitted by hunters for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
testing, which suggests that the disease may be limited to the area around
where it was initially detected. Complete results to date are available on the
DNR Internet site at http://www.dnr.state.wi.us./
In many areas of Wisconsin, (50 of 56 sampling units) researchers are
90 percent confident or better that CWD would have been detected if only one
deer in one hundred was infected. And, enough samples were collected and tested
from every area of the state to give a 99 percent confidence that CWD would
have been detected if the disease were present at the level found around the
Mt. Horeb area.
“Not finding any new cases of CWD outside of the current eradication
zone and an adjacent segment of the management zone is good news for
Wisconsin,” said Tom Hauge, director of wildlife management at the Department
of Natural Resources, in a press release. “We can focus our state’s resources
on the affected area, work to increase our knowledge of the disease and limit
it’s negative effects. These surveillance results will help us target our
disease control efforts for greatest efficiency and cost effectiveness.”
Wisconsin
wildlife health and management officials say that while this essentially
completes the largest ever wildlife disease surveillance effort, CWD
surveillance will continue. “Processes that brought CWD to the Mt. Horeb area
could be unfolding elsewhere and continued surveillance is warranted,” says
Hauge. “Continued surveillance in fall 2003 will focus on ‘at risk’ areas of
the state, such as counties where there are CWD-positive farmed deer or elk,
the counties bordering on Illinois near where that state has found CWD, and
counties adjacent to the eradication zone. Reports of sick deer anywhere will
be investigated and if indicated, the deer will be tested.”
Small numbers of results
will continue to be added to the test-reporting website as sick-looking deer
are sampled. Carcasses from the eradication zone turned over to the DNR for
disposal during hunting season have been in cold storage. Testing completed,
positive deer will be sorted out and researchers will harvest additional
tissues from positive-testing deer for future research into the disease. The
positive carcasses will then be incinerated.
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
BIFSCO EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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.
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
CALIFORNIA
WORKERS COMP CRISIS
Many California members have notified the association of their concerns
regarding the escalating costs of workers compensation insurance coverage. A recent Lean Trimmings article stated the
impact it had on businesses in California and encouraged members to contact
their elected representative to voice their concerns.
It is important that members know what is going on to cause
rates to double, triple or worse. NMA
is scheduling a teleconference for Thursday,
May 15, 2003 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. PDT to
brief members. NMA Executive Director
Rosemary Mucklow and Bill Bridgford of Bridgford Foods Corp., also the Chairman
of the NMA Work Place Issues Committee, will moderate this teleconference with
John Barbieri and Kevin Vollmer of State Compensation Insurance Fund as
guests. Interested California members
can call the NMA office at 510-763-1533 to get the dial-in number and meeting
agenda. There is no fee to NMA members.
AMERICAN LAMB BOARD
The American
Lamb Board will meet again June 4-6 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel, 3801
Quebec Street, in Denver, CO. Agenda topics include the American Lamb Board
spring promotion and strategic planning on upcoming summer and fall programs.
The Board will also conduct interviews for American Lamb Board Executive
Director.
Public
comments will be received at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 4th and at
7:45 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, June 5th and 6th.
Written comments are also welcome. Contact American Lamb Board Secretary
Margaret Magruder at 503-728-2945 for more information.
GIPSA ON COOL
The
National Institute for Animal Agriculture Weekly News Bulletin recently
reported that requiring producers to maintain records when USDA’s
country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law is implemented is not prohibited under
the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), nor is conducting audits of the records
packers will require, according to GIPSA. If a packer’s record keeping
requirements are reasonable in light of the mandatory COOL program and if the
packer fully discloses the record keeping requirements to the seller prior to
purchasing livestock, the packer has not violated the PSA, GIPSA said. GIPSA
acknowledged in a memo that packers might have to develop different practices
to address the record keeping requirements needed to fulfill their COOL duties
when the law takes effect. GIPSA also acknowledged that packers might have to
institute different processing methods to achieve compliance. Visit http://www.usda.gov/gipsa/programspsp/cool.htm
for more information.
UPCOMING
NMA SEMINARS
May 28-29 - Beyond Basics --
College Station, TX
July (tentative) -
Animal Handling -- Dallas, TX
July 17-18 - Advanced HACCP --
Los Angeles, CA
August 21-23 - Basic HACCP in Spanish
-- Los Angeles, CA
September 18-20 - Basic
HACCP --
San Francisco, CA
October 1-2 - Beyond Basics -- College Station, TX
Contact NMA at (510)
763-1533 for more information and registration materials.
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.
SAFE PORK
The
5th International Symposium on the Epidemiology and Control of
Foodborne Pathogens in Pork will be held October 1-4, 2003 in Crete, Greece. Safe Pork intends
to provide an international scientific and technical forum for advanced
information on the following: Microbial ecology (preharvest /postharvest),
Animal handling, Animal waste, Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, Antimicrobial
resistance of foodborne pathogens, Diagnostics, Slaughtering
technology/hygiene/decontamination/inspection, Processing and safety, and
Intervention measures (specific and integrated systems, regulatory, national,
international programs).
Please
visit http://www.triaenatours.gr/
for additional information, including call for papers and registration. NMA
members contact Kiran Kernellu at [email protected]
or 510-763-1533 for a brochure about this event.
Page 4
TRAINING COURSE: FOOD SAFETY REGULATORY ESSENTIALS
FSIS is providing training to improve and reinforce inspectors’ understanding
of how to perform their food safety duties. The training course, “Food Safety
Regulatory Essentials Training,” (FSRE) is based on recently issued FSIS
Directive 5000.1, Revision 1, “Verifying an Establishment’s Food Safety
System.” The directive outlines the full range of inspection responsibilities
in relation to the HACCP/Pathogen Reduction regulation. It also incorporates
all recent Agency issuances (Directives, notices) related to these
topics. For more information visit http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/whatsnew.htm.
CA’S END QUARANTINE ZONE EXPANDED
The National Chicken Council Washington
Report relayed that USDA’s
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has expanded the exotic
Newcastle disease (END) quarantine in California to include the southeast
corner of Kern County. The action followed the confirmation of END in a backyard
flock near the town of Mojave. Both the premises and contact premise have been
depopulated.
The numbers of positive commercial flocks in
California is still at 22 flocks. As of May 7th, 15 premises were
pending depopulation and 2,208 premises were released from quarantine. In
Texas, there were no new positive or contact premises, and APHIS has completed
its operations in Arizona and Nevada.
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
May 12, 2003
FISCAL YEAR
2004 BUDGET REQUESTS
On Thursday, May 8 Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman testified on behalf of the Department before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies, which held a hearing on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget request for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Secretary was accompanied by Mr. James R. Moseley, Deputy Secretary, Mr. Keith Collins, Chief Economist for USDA, and Mr. Stephen Dewhurst, Office of Budget and Program Analysis for USDA. Subcommittee Chairman Robert Bennett (R-UT) presided over the hearing, which also included members Senator Herb Kohl, the Subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, and Senators Specter (R-PA), Durbin (D-IL), Stevens (R-AK), Cochran (R-MS), Burns (R-MT), Johnson (D-SD), Craig (R-ID), Harkin (D-IA), Byrd (D-WV), and Dorgan (D-ND).
Opening statements from
Chairman Bennett included an acknowledgment that this year’s appropriations
process is more difficult than most, partly due to the President’s release of
the FY 2004 budget request before Congress completed action on the 2003
budget. Senator Burns briefly expressed
a concern about the recent reduction of USDA staff. Secretary Veneman identified her priorities in the budget, namely
protecting the food supply, implementing the 2002 Farm Bill, and supporting
healthy lifestyles. Secretary Veneman
expressed her support for the child nutrition reauthorization process, and
endorsed the concept of providing incentives for schools to offer more
nutritious food choices.
Senator Johnson voiced his concerns that USDA, along with the meat processing industry, is attempting to “sand bag” the country-of-origin labeling law. He accused the Department of drafting regulations that would unnecessarily burden producers with administrative hurdles. Secretary Veneman responded that the country-of-origin labeling law is very specific, and USDA is working within significant constraints. She also noted that the law has been voluntary so far, and that parts of the agriculture industry are in favor of keeping it that way.
Senator Durbin discussed his concerns about school food safety. He said that he would like to mandate
schools to issue recalls in the event of illness and to better track food
manufacturers that supply school cafeterias.
Secretary Veneman insisted that schools operate appropriately under the
current voluntary recall system and that she sees no need to use a heavy-handed
system for schools. The Secretary said
USDA should improve its follow-through on product recalls by ensuring that
schools heed disposal notices and other warnings. According to the National
Chicken Council Washington Report, when
asked by Senator Durbin (D-IL) about mandatory recall, the Secretary said
mandatory recall is not necessary because FSIS can pull inspection if a plant
refuses to recall its product. In regard to USDA-purchased food products, such
as those for the School Lunch Program, the Food Nutrition Service has the
authority to help if a voluntary recall is not successful. Senator Durbin also
asked the Secretary her opinion on a single food agency, and she reportedly
responded that the issue is “complicated and that each agency with food safety
responsibilities has several roles and varying authorities that make a single
agency a major challenge.” The budget request provides a program level of $899
million, which is an increase of almost $42 million from 2003.
NMA members can contact Kiran Kernellu at [email protected] or 510-763-1533 for a copy of Secretary Veneman’s testimony and the Olsson, Frank & Weeda memo on the hearing.
Page 2
ENHANCEMENTS TO GROUND BEEF PURCHASE REQUIREMENTS
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)
announced additional purchase specification requirements for ground beef items
purchased for the National School Lunch and other Federal food and nutrition
programs, TRS-GB-2003. The changes are geared toward making AMS’ purchase
requirements closer to those of large volume commercial purchasers of ground
beef products. The new requirements will take effect this summer for purchases
for the upcoming school year. Purchases under TRS-GB-2003 require the
submission of technical proposals for approval prior to submissions of cost
offers.
AMS
officials released the new specifications at the recent Annual Industry
Conference for Contractors and Suppliers in USDA’s Meat Purchase Programs in
Kansas City, MO. They said that the new specification builds on current
requirements by adding state-of-the-art process controls that will measure
performance of the processing systems producing both raw and finished products.
The new specification provides that finished products will continue to be
tested for Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7, with products testing positive being
excluded from purchases. Like large volume commercial buyers’ requirements,
testing will now be extended to raw materials at slaughter and deboning
facilities, including trim, to provide greater assurance of product quality
before grinding.
The
Agency holds that contractor eligibility to supply ground beef items to USDA
will become contingent on good product and plant sanitation practices as measured
by ongoing test results. Statistical Process Control (SPC) will be used to
evaluate each contractor’s overall process to produce high quality and
wholesome ground beef, providing an objective basis for determining any need
for improvements in production processes and for excluding companies that do
not consistently meet requirements.
Additionally,
the new specification sets an average fat content level of 15 percent for
ground beef items, but lean ground beef patties will remain at 10 percent,
reducing the average fat content of ground beef items purchased by two
percentage points.
The previous specification required: 1) an intervention step that is a
critical control point (CCP) in a slaughter plant’s HACCP plan; 2) an
intervention step at a stand-alone deboning plant; and 3) final product testing
for several microorganisms for purposes of accepting or rejecting that product.
In addition to E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, tests on boneless
beef and finished product will be conducted for standard plate count, and total
Coliform. Final product will also be tested for Coagulase Positive
Staphylococci. The new specification: 1) adds an intervention step and requires
testing for E. coli 0157:H7 at the slaughter plant; 2) adds development of a
quality control plan and testing requirements for boneless beef, including use
of those results for monitoring the production process for boneless beef; 3)
adds development of a quality control plan for grinders, retains finished
product testing requirements, and adds use of those testing results to monitor
the grinding process.
AMS is providing a workshop in Kansas City,
MO on May 22nd from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton Kansas City
Airport to brief vendors, line by line, on how to write technical proposal to
meet the new requirements. Interested participants should complete and submit
the Supplier Workshop Registration form by May 15, 2003. For a registration
form, agenda, and directions to the meeting location, contact Sue Olson at
202-720-2650. For more information on the new specifications, visit AMS’
website at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/grbeef.htm.
The Technical Requirements Schedule-GB 2003 is available at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/2003grbeef.pdf.
JOIN US FOR NMA’s 2003 SUMMER
CONFERENCE!
AUGUST 20-23, 2003
GRAND GENEVA RESORT & SPA
LAKE GENEVA, WI
For more information, contact
NMA at 510-763-1533 or [email protected]