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 Jeremy
Russell
December 21, 2001
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
One of the real joys of the holiday season is the opportunity for us to thank
our members. While much has over the past few months, enduring qualities of
faith and courage have risen which sustain us. Thank you, all!
USDA MEETING IN WASHINGTON ON Salmonella
NMA's Executive Director Rosemary Mucklow attended a meeting at USDA for the purpose
of providing the Department's views on the impact of the decision by the 5th
Circuit Ct. of Appeals in Supreme Beef Processors. v. USDA. Held in
Washington on December 19 and chaired by Dr. Elsa Murano, Under Secretary for
Food Safety, the meeting included industry organizations and consumer groups.
The meeting was opened by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman who personally greeted
all attendees and reassured everyone that USDA would continue to be vigilant in
its inspections. She said that the Agency will take enforcement
action against facilities that are not clean and will continue microbial testing.
She also said that USDA will rely on good science and is committed to food
safety. To this end, she noted her complete confidence in Dr. Murano.
Dr. Murano then reviewed current options. Although the Department cannot remove
its inspectors solely based on the third failure of Salmonella Performance
Standards, it continues to have the primary elements of the 1996 rule - SSOPs
and HACCP. It can continue to use microbial testing for verification and
validation. FSIS plans now to follow up a second Salmonella
Performance Standard failure with an IDV review. Acting FSIS Administrator Margaret
Glavin then outlined options under consideration by the agency (see page 2).
Several industry representatives commended the Department for convening the meeting
and for clearly articulating the USDA's regulatory position. There was repeated
mention of the importance of microbial testing and of industry's support. Dr.
Murano, in response to a question, said that the government's lawyers are
reviewing the legal options and no decision has been made. In response to a
question, Dr. Murano said USDA believed the decision applies only to grinders
but that the lawyers are looking at it.
Page 2
POSSIBLE AGENCY FOLLOW UP TO SUPREME BEEF DECISION
At a meeting in Washington on Wednesday (see page 1) acting FSIS Administration
Margaret Glavin outlined options under consideration by the agency:
� Review slaughter plants for generic E. coli testing data and consider better
use of data and more verification sampling;
� Review the suppliers of grinders to confirm they are meeting generic E. coli
testing parameters;
� Initiate gathering data to develop a trim baseline;
� Establish a "do no harm" standard for grinders to show they are not
increasing the level of Salmonella in processing;
� Consider "real time" dissemination of Salmonella test results
(meaning report it sample by sample). Currently, it is provided in complete 53
sample sets months after the last test.
� Publicize completed sample set data.
CONSUMER ACTIVISTS SPEAK OUT
At the Washington meeting on Wednesday, consumer advocates claimed that the appeals
court decision in the Supreme Beef suit goes beyond the 1967 law because it
allows the Department's seal to be applied to raw meat containing microorganisms
that cause disease. They said it is a bad decision for consumers and the
industry.
Other consumer advocates suggested there is a "crisis" in food
safety, because this President, unlike President Clinton who twice included
food safety in nationwide presentations, has not spoken on the issue. They
argued that a change in administration should not mean a change in food safety policy.
Another suggested USDA was trying to make the best of a bad decision and
demanded to know the names of companies that fail the standards. She said she
wanted an inspector in ground beef operations continuously, and also to oversee
washing/cleaning of equipment, more funding for increased testing, move away
from "poke and sniff" inspection and no more "drive by" inspection.
Yet another described the Court decision as public betrayal, claiming consumers
are now at risk from grossly contaminated food. Yet one more said the decision
negated the entire HACCP rule.
Industry representatives responded, noting that food policy did not change with
administrations, that meat and poultry is not a big vector of Salmonella (eggs
and iguanas are much greater), that the Salmonella performance standards rule
as finalized had not been subject to comment in the rulemaking, that meat and
poultry is the only food sector mandated to have HACCP and that the industry
itself sought this before government took action.
A consumer advocate said that with this decision, the industry just won the right
to sell "filthy meat," that the advocates do not have a lot of faith because
of the lack of control of disease causing agents in the meat supply, and their
best hope is to support legislation to reform the inspection program.
However, Dr. Murano brought the meeting to a close by restating her opening comments:
The USDA will continue to be vigilant in carrying out its statutory authority
to inspect meat and poultry and will respect the finding of the Court in the
Supreme case on how it uses its authority for failure to meet the Salmonella
Performance Standards.
Page 3
Salmonella ASSAULT
Shortly after the meeting at USDA (see page 1), leading consumer advocates Carol
Tucker Foreman of Consumer Federation of America, Caroline Smith DeWaal of
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Nancy Donley of STOP held
a press briefing at the Capitol to loudly renounce the decision in Supreme Beef
v. USDA.
The consumer groups and Democratic legislators were anything but mollified by
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman's announcement that USDA would continue to
enforce Salmonella standards, using test results to direct in-depth reviews of
food safety systems. Nor were the groups appeased by the USDA's efforts to
"conduct a comprehensive review of current food safety regulations and
work with interested parties to determine if science-based changes are necessary
to strengthen" HACCP, as Secretary Veneman put it in her December 18
statement. No, the CSPI says it will not be satisfied until Congress acts to:
� Approve legislation that would give USDA explicit authority to set and enforce
standards to control Salmonella and other illness-causing bacteria in the food
supply. USDA should be instructed to enforce those standards to the full extent
of its authority under the law, including withdrawing federal inspectors from
plants that repeatedly violate pathogen reduction standards.
� Approve emergency USDA funding to provide additional inspectors to oversee beef
grinding operations, to increase Salmonella testing in slaughter and processing
plants, and to reevaluate existing HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Points) systems in meat and poultry processing plants.
The first of these two measures would give USDA statutory authority to enforce
its Salmonella Performance Standard and other microbial standards as though
they measured something that the plant had done or could do something about.
Instead it would seem more effective to regulate based on food safety goals.
The second would appear to be an attempt to arbitrarily single out
beef grinders simply because it was a beef grinder, Supreme Beef Processors, that
took a stand against standards that many were pointing to as arbitrary and
unscientific. It will be a sad day if retaliation of this nature is codified in
law.
In support of these proposals, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Richard Durbin
(D-IL) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) joined to seek changes to meat inspection laws.
Clinton and Durbin, joined former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and the
consumer groups in mounting their massive press campaign December 19 in
Washington, DC.
At the press conference, Clinton spoke of her time as a "slimer" at a
fish factory in Alaska 32 years ago and Glickman noted his personal link to the
Supreme Beef case, which persuaded him to speak about it. The case was brought
while he was still Secretary of Agriculture and he has subsequently associated
with the law firm that provided pro bono assistance to the
consumer groups in filing their amici to the defendant, USDA.
Statements by the groups and by Senators Durbin and Harkin are available from
NMA on request.
Page 4
GROUND BEEF STILL TOPS POPULARITY LIST AT SUPERMARKETS
An article in the December issue of Supermarket Business states that, of the latest
AC Nielsen study of the Top 50 perishables in the supermarket, ground beef and
bananas remain at the top of the list as the most popular, random weight
products in the supermarket in terms of traffic draw and sales. For the 52
weeks ended December 31, Bulk Ground Beef sales totaled $3.861
billion. The meat department had 4 of the top 10 items on the list.
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 Jeremy Russell
December 21, 2001
FARM BILL DEAD FOR NOW
Democrats failed to limit Farm Bill debate through cloture for a third time. "This
will be the third cloture vote and the last cloture vote," Majority Leader
Tom Daschle (D-SD) said before the vote. "Senators must make up their minds.
If they want to kill the bill they will vote against cloture." 60 votes
were� needed to invoke cloture, but the motion failed 54-43. This means
the bill will not pass before the end of the year.
HACCP REG FOR RENDERERS
FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is developing a mandatory HACCP regulation
for manufacturers of rendered products, such as animal and vegetable proteins
in animal feed. It hopes to develop a pilot program with two firms, reports
Food Chemical News Daily. The regulation was listed December 3 as a
"long-term action" in the Department of Health and Human
Services' semi-annual regulatory agenda, reports Food Chemical News Daily.
DEFENDING THE BORDERS FROM BSE
FDA says its enforcement of a ban on byproducts from countries known to have Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has been successful. Officials have stopped 48
shipments generally classified as animal byproducts at the borders since the
federal government imposed a ban on them, Stephen Sundlof, director of FDA's
Center for Veterinary Medicine, told Food Chemical News Daily December 11. But
the materials in almost all of those shipments are perfectly legal to have in
the United States, he said. The shipments contained product codes that
generally described the contents as animal byproducts, but many of those
shipments were products such as pig ears meant for pet food and animal feed
additives that were plant material, he said.
CVM is considering proposing changes to strengthen the ban and expects to publish
an advance notice of proposed rulemaking early next year, he said.
FSIS: COMMENTERS TO BE LISTED ONLINE
FSIS will now provide an online list of commenters to Federal Register notices
with comment periods. The intent is to eventually provide a link to the actual
comments submitted. Initially, the lists will be placed on the both the OPPDE
"What's New" page and at the appropriate FSIS Federal Register
publications page.
NACMCF'S NEW WEB PRESENCE
A home page has been established on the FSIS web site for the National Advisory
Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF). The NACMCF provides
assistance in the development of microbiological criteria, the review and
evaluation of epidemiological and risk assessment data, and methodologies for
assessing microbiological hazards in foods.� Access the
NACMCF home page at: www.fsis.usda.gov/OPHS/nacmcf/index.htm
Page 2
INS PURSUES INDUSTRY ILLEGALS
Two executives and four former managers from Tyson Foods, Inc. have been indicted
on charges of conspiracy to smuggling illegal workers, the Justice Department
announced this week. The 36-count indictment, unsealed in federal court in
Tennessee, stems from a 2-1/2 year undercover investigation by the Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS) into Tyson's business
practices. This time last year, INS raided a Nebraska plant, arresting undocumented
workers and charging officials there with similar charges as those now lodged
against Tyson officials. At that time, Jerry Heinaur, director of the
Nebraska-Iowa INS field office, told the Associated Press that "[INS's]
priority was to arrest the mid-level managers involved." The same appears
to be true in the Tyson case. Tyson denied the charges, saying they "are
limited to a few managers who were acting outside of company policy at five of
our 57 poultry processing plants."
However, the Justice Department says that 15 Tyson plants in nine states have
been implicated in the conspiracy in which workers allegedly were imported and
transported from the Southwest border.
In filing against Tyson, which is now the owner of IBP, the Justice Department
alleged the cultivation of a corporate culture in which the hiring of illegal
alien workers was condoned to meet production goals and to cut costs to
maximize profits. "The bottom line on the corporate balance sheet is no
excuse for criminal conduct," commented Assistant Attorney General Michael
Chertoff. It certainly appears that meat and poultry industry employment
practices are under priority scrutiny at the Justice Department.
James Ziglar, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which
helped investigate the case against Tyson, said the indictments send a message
to the business community. "INS means business, and companies, regardless
of size, are on notice that INS is committed to enforcing compliance with
immigration laws and protecting America's work force," he said.
Tyson's legal predicament is complicated by the fact that U.S. District Judge
Ricardo Urbina placed the company on four years' probation for bribing former
Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in the early 1990s.� Under the terms of
the probation Tyson Foods could not violate any laws or the terms of the agreement.
The Justice Department says that if the court finds Tyson violated the
agreement, the punishment could be as extreme as USDA removing its inspectors
from Tyson's plants, a move that would essentially shut the company down, Food
Chemical News Daily reports.
APHIS ALTERS INTERSTATE SWINE MOVEMENT RULES
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced plans in the
Federal Register December 20 to amend the regulations to establish an alternative
to the current requirements for moving swine interstate. Under the new
alternative, persons may move swine interstate without meeting individual swine
identification and certain other requirements if they move
the swine within a single swine production system. Each such swine production
system must sign an agreement with APHIS and involved State governments to
monitor the health of animals moving within the system and to facilitate
traceback if necessary. APHIS believes this change will facilitate the
interstate movement of swine while continuing to provide protection against the
interstate spread of swine diseases. The change will be effective January 22.
For further information contact Dr. Arnold Taft,
Senior Staff Veterinarian, at (301) 734-4916.