Food Protection Trends - July 2012 - (Page 423)

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN FOOD SAFETY USDA Unveils Rules to Speed Tracking of Tainted Meat he U.S. government is unveiling new provisions to keep potentially deadly E. coli from infiltrating summer barbeques and other outings when folks sink their teeth into meat. The updated rules by the U.S. Department of Agriculture allow inspectors to begin looking for meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 as soon as early testing shows a potential problem. The policy is designed to speed up the USDA’s ability to track down contaminated hamburger and ground beef — and contain them. Under the new policy, the USDA will act quicker after the first signs of a potentially deadly spread. The agency previously did not begin investigating possible contaminated meat until several tests were completed, often taking days. The policy change “buys us 24 to 48 hours in terms of finding the sources,” says USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen. The new provisions are part of the USDA’s emphasis on “using the data we and industry have in order to get in front of the problems that can harm consumers. If we get a red flag from a test result, there are all kind of opportunities for us to help prevent harm,” said Sec. Hagen. Responding more swiftly to potentially contaminated meat is one part of new approaches by the USDA. Other efforts include an early reporting system that requires companies to notify the USDA’s within 24 hours if potentially harmful meat or poultry has been shipped, and adding six new E. coli strains to a government watch list. The CDC says the six strains sickened 451 people in 2010, hospitalized 69 and killed one. T USDA Announces Steps to Improve Compliance with Residue Requirements and to Increase Testing at Establishments with Repeat Violators he U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced two steps designed to prevent meat products that contain illegal residues from reaching consumers: the issuance of a compliance guide that will help livestock slaughter establishments avoid purchasing animals with illegal drug or other chemical residues; and increased testing of animals from producers with a history of residue violations. “This new residue guidance will help industry to prevent certain animals from entering the marketplace and will contribute significantly toward our goal of protecting consumers,” USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said. “Coupled with increased testing of those with a history of violations, we are providing a pathway for those producers to correct deficient practices.” The residue compliance guide is intended for all livestock slaughter establishments, particularly those for dairy cows and bob veal calves, which account for the majority of residue violations. The guide outlines basic measures that slaughter establishments can employ to prevent or reduce residues in livestock. FSIS administers the U.S. National Residue Program (NRP) to keep products with illegal residues from reaching consumers. As part of the announcement, FSIS stated that a key part of the NRP, the Residue Repeat Violator List, has been revised and streamlined to be more user-friendly. The list now T includes only producers who have supplied more than one animal with an illegal residue level in the past year. FSIS is interested in receiving comments on the list, including how to improve its usefulness, and whether the Agency should provide additional information on producers who supply animals with violative residues. The Agency’s increased testing applies to animals from producers who have been identified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as producing livestock with residue violations. Since 2008, FSIS has increased testing of animals from producers whose practices have resulted in residue violations. FSIS also recently increased residue testing of carcasses in establishments that fail to apply adequate residue control measures. In the past two years, FSIS has announced several new measures to safeguard the food supply, prevent foodborne illness, and improve consumers’ knowledge about the food they eat. These initiatives support the three core principles developed by the President’s Food Safety Working Group: prioritizing prevention; strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and improving response and recovery. Some of these actions include: • Poultry inspection modernization that will reduce the risk of foodborne illness by focusing FSIS inspection activities on tasks that advance its core mission of food safety and removing outdated regulatory requirements that do not help combat foodborne illness. • Performance standards for poultry establishments for continued reductions in the occurrence of pathogens. After two years of enforcing the new standards, FSIS estimates that approximately 423 JULY 2012 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - July 2012

Food Protection Trends - July 2012
Contents
Sustaining Members
Food for Thought from Your President
Commentary from the Executive Director
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by Carnobacterium piscicola in Fresh and Pasteurized Crab Meat
Gold Sustaining Member Profiles
IAFP’s European Symposium on Food Safety
New Members
What’s Happening in Food Safety
Industry Products
Award Winners
General Information
Registration Information
Special Contributors and Sponsors
Advertising Index
Coming Events
Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents

Food Protection Trends - July 2012