CHICAGO, 111. While it
sounds comprehensive, zero toler
ance of contaminations on meat
carcasses probably isn’t the best
answer to making meat safer. That
was the word from a panel discus
sion at the 47th Annual Reciprocal
Meat Conference (RMC) last
month.
The RMC, hosted by Pennsyl
vania State University, was spon
soredc by the American Meat Sci
ence Association in cooperation
with the National Live Stock and
Meat Board. Safety experts from
academia, foodservice, perharvest
production, and regulatory agen
cies met in University last
month.
In a session on food safety and
muscle foods inspection, speakers
concluded that an industry-wide
total quality management proo
gram would be more efficient than
the 1993 federal zero tolerance re
gulation that requires removal of
al contaminants, regardless of
size, from the carcass.
“As we have attempted to
monitor the pathogen count, zero
tolerance isn’t working as well as
we would like for it to work, and
in fact we aren’t reducing the
pathogen content,” said panel dis
cussion leader Gary Smith, pro
fessor of meat science at Colorado
State University.
Advanced methods of remov
ing contaminants, such as the
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Meat: Is It
Meat Board-funded carcass stu
dies being conducted at plants
throughout the country, are de
monstrating success in practical
applications. But even if zero
pathogens existed on the outside
of carcasses, several of the panel
ists said that pathogens could still
exist.
“Essentially, if you’re testing to
keep (pathogens) out of the sys
tem, it’s going to eventually come
back and bite you,” said William
Sischo, assistant professor of ve
terinary science at Pennsylvania
State University. “No matter how
thorough your test, something will
eventually work its way through.”
Instead of massive testing, Sis
cho and Food Safety and Inspec
tion Service (FSIS) assistant ad
ministrator Richard Camevale
suggested extending Hazard
Analysis Critical Control Points
(HACCP) programs to the farms,
monitoring and quarantining live
stock before they end up at the
packing plant.
A method of total quality man
agement, HACCP originally em
phasized monitoring production in
processor, plants. Extending
HACCP to the farms, ranches and
feeding sites would increase quali
ty at every subsequent point in
meat production, Sischo said.
“We’re after pathogen reduc
tion, not pathogen elimination,”
Camevale said. “The idea of im
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As Safe As Can Be?
plementing HACCP on the farm is
just that It’s just trying to identify
practices that decrease the possi
bility of pathogens making it into
the packing plant.”
An across-the-industry quality
management program is the best
solution, agreed Smith.
“We have to have a collective
effort of everyone who can and
will be concerned to make sure
that our products are indeed safe,”
he said.
Bob Harrington, director of
technical services for the National
Restaurant Association, said he
welcomed earlier quality assur
ance from meat producers. The
foodservice industry took most of
the criticism during the 1993 E.
coli scare because of Jack in the
Box’s cooking practices. Thor
ough cooking kills pathogens, but
Harrington says that isn’t as easy a
directive as it sounds.
“Wc’be got a problem in our in
dustry because we have to respond
to multiple masters,” he said. “We
have to ultimately do what our
customers say they want. And
people are coming back to rare
meat.”
By implementing HACCP
standards early, everyone’s job
becomes a little easier, Harrington
said.
Smith said in some instances,
advanced ways of testing meat
make a perfectly risk-free food
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supply an impossible goal.
“God put pesticides inside
plants to fight off the things that
might come along and chew off
their roots or limbs or leaves. And
if we eat food, we’re going to get
those naturally occurring toxins,”
he said. Quoting a study done by
Dr. Bruce Ames, a University of
Rep. Smith States Objections
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
The Republican chairman of
the House Agriculture and Rural
Affairs Committee recently said
he objects to certain proposed
changes in regulations governing
farm use of water from the Sus
quehanna River Basin.
Specifically, York County Rep.
Bruce Smith said he disagrees
with a proposal developed by the
Susquehanna River Basin Com
mission to impose fees on farmers
for agricultural use of water from
the river and the waters of the ba
sin.
The commission is proposing
the implementation of fees for
agricultural water use which ex
ceeds 20,000 gallons per day, as
well as application and monitoring
fees.
‘This proposal would be a de
finite financial hardship for many
farmers who are already financial
ly hard-pressed. Under this pro
posal, farmers would be subject to
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LincMttf Farming, Saturday, July 30,1994-C7
Californis/Berkley researcher.
Smith said naturally occurring
carcinogens represent about 1,500
milligrams per day in our daily di
et. Synthetic drug residues ac
count for 0.019 milligrams. Neith
er exposure presents a serious risk
of cancer. Smith said.
unreasonable fees ranging from
$B5O to $13,500 in the first year,”
Smith said.
The commission is an autono
mous agency formed ih 1970 by a
compact between Pennsylvania,
Maryland, New York and the fed
eral government. It is currently in
the process of reorganizing and re
vising regulations governing pro
jects in the river basin.
Smith agreed that the commis
sion’s regulations require updat
ing, but urged the panel to extend
its comment period in order to
provide farmers with more time to
review the proposed changes and
send comments. The comment
deadline is Aug. 1.
“It is unfortunate that the com
mission chose the busiest time of a
farmer’s year to seek comment on
proposals which will initiate unex
pected financial disadvantage on
the agricultural community,” he
said. Smith recommended the
comment period be extended into
the winter months.
3 Times
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14.40
15.36
16.32
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