Meat + Poultry - November 2010 - 60

Should a pathogen be discovered
during testing, the entire lot is either
sold to a cooker - a company that
cooks or sells prepared meat (E. coli
bacteria is destroyed when properly
cooked at minimum temperatures of
at least 160ºF) - or the lot is destroyed.
"Growing existing customers and
obtaining new customers is still a
function of the quality and value associated with your products and the
service and ideas you provide your
existing or potential customers," Jobe
says. "Having a state-of-the-art safety
program does tend to take the foodsafety issue off the table."

Test-and-hold growth
When asked if he thought more US
beef processors will begin to routinely
employ test-and-hold inventory management protocols such as his company
is now doing, Jobe replies: "We feel that

more and more customers will start to
request finished goods test-and-hold
procedures. Also,[we think] there are
various legislative proposals that discuss finished goods test-and-hold."
All product must be traceable back
to the production lot and must be on
hold status and not released until all
results for the production day are
available and it has been determined
that product meets the stringent testing standards, James Sommer, Valley
Meats head of production, said in an
earlier company press release.
The costs of test-and-hold, however, are not insignificant and involve
the costs of the lab testing including
the courier service, the QA personnel
needed to implement the program, the
working capital cost of needing to hold
inventory, the capital cost of the added
inventory storage space and racking
and the costs of the samples sent for

testing. "There is also the cost associated with product that cannot be sold
in to our normal channels in the event
of a positive test result," Jobe adds.
"We know we cannot stop in our
efforts to stay at the forefront of the

"We continue to research
new processes and
procedures to assure
that we stay a leader in
food safety."
food-safety issue," Jobe adds. "Even
with everything we have incorporated
to date in our food-safety program, we
continue to research new processes
and procedures to assure that we stay
a leader in food safety." ■
We would like to hear from you - to comment
on this story or to request reprints, contact us
by e-mail at meatpoultry@sosland.com.

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Meat + Poultry - November 2010

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