Meat&Poultry - January 2012 - 19

other countries asked USDA to hold off, saying scientific evidence hadn’t been furnished to justify the USDA regulations, and that there would a high cost for smaller producers and processors to pay if these declarations are implemented. FSIS says it will start doing some sampling for the toxins starting in March. But the Canadian government has also raised concerns about the USDA proposal, saying measures taken against E. coli O157:H7 would also work against the non-O157 serotypes. It would also have a serious

slaughterers and processing/packing houses are asked to be involved. But these steps would have to take place long before cattle reach the slaughterhouse doors. Slaughterers and processors take many food-safety steps right now, such as washing animals, washing the carcass under high-pressure before the hide is removed; steam cleaning and thermal pasteurization of the carcass to kill any surface bacteria. Toward the end of 2011, FSIS made some changes to how environmental examples are collected during routine Listeria monocytogenes sampling, which is done mostly on ready-to-eat foods. During the past year, FSIS also made a major change in how it analyzes data, which is called the Public Health Information System. The goal of the system is to gather data to protect public health more efficiently than was done under previous systems. The new system also gives meat and poultry processing plants the option of accessing this new system and FSIS much more easily over the Internet by using a secure account. The access allows plants to have a closer electronic connection and access to FSIS in performing a wide variety of operations, including responding to and appealing noncompliance reports (NCRs), submitting export applications, scheduling incoming shipments, and other contracts with the federal inspection agency. The PHIS replaces the Performance Based Inspection System, which was used by FSIS for many years. ■
Bernard Shire is M&P’s Washington correspondent, a contributing editor and a feature writer based in Lancaster, Pa. Shire also works as a food safety consultant and writer for Shire & Associates LLC. We would like to hear from you – to comment on this story or to request reprints, contact us by email at meatpoultry@sosland.com. www.MeatPoultry.com • January 2012 • Meat&Poultry •

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The goal of the system is to gather data to protect public health more efficiently than was done under previous systems.
impact on US and Canadian trade. Meat processors recently pointed to a more than 50 percent reduction in illnesses coming from E. coli O157:H7. And there is a debate growing in the industry over who should pay to kill the E. coli pathogen, specifically in ground beef, estimated at about a penny per burger. Food-safety experts say it’s possible for this to happen because of new technologies available, including the use of a vaccine and another additive to cattle feed, which could reduce E. coli contamination to very small levels. The problem so far has been the economics for doing this are not set up the right way. These new interventions have to be applied long before cattle are slaughtered, when calves are very young, or in feed lots when they’re growing. Traditionally, cattle

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Meat&Poultry - January 2012

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