October 15, 2002
Consumer Groups Accuse U.S. of Negligence on Food Safety
By ELIZABETH BECKER


WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 - Consumer and environmental groups blamed the Bush
administration today for the nation's largest meat recall, saying the
administration had failed to set adequate safety standards for the meat
industry. Officials at the
Agriculture Department flatly denied the accusation.


On Sunday, the Pilgrim's Pride Corporation asked that 27.4 million pounds
of cooked turkey and chicken products be returned for fear that the roasts
and delicatessen meats sold under the Wampler brand are contaminated with
Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.


The listeria infestation at the plant in Franconia, Pa., was discovered by
Department of Agriculture inspectors trying to find the source of a
listeria outbreak that has killed seven in seven Northeastern states.


"The illnesses are the result of inexcusable dereliction of duty by the
government agency charged with assuring meat safety," said Carol Tucker
Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America.


Ms. Foreman and other consumer advocates pointed to the administration's
failure to adopt new regulations covering inspections for listeria that
were initiated by President Bill Clinton in the months before he left
office. They said adoption of these tighter standards would have helped
prevent the recent outbreak as well as the record-breaking recall.


Officials at the Department of Agriculture disagreed. They said they took
more than 10,000 listeria samples last year in meat and poultry processing
plants across the country. The department was testing the plant for
listeria, as were inspectors for the company, said Stephen Cohen, the
spokesman for its food and safety and inspection service.


"We test more for listeria than they assume," Mr. Cohen said. "Listeria is
one of those ubiquitous airborne bacteria in the environment."


This summer the department announced a recall of 19 million pounds sold by
the ConAgra Beef Company to grocery stores and households around the
country.


These two major recalls have prompted consumer and environmental groups to
question safety standards throughout the industry now that animals and
poultry are raised on huge feedlots and plants and are killed and
processed in huge slaughterhouses. They contend that the chances for
contamination have risen sharply with the development of these enormous
meat-processing operations, while inspection standards have loosened.


"The meat industry has gotten so huge and producing meat at such a large
volume in these huge slaughterhouses it's easy for meat to become
contaminated," said Navis Bermudez of the Sierra Club.


The club has made regulating confined animal feedlot operations a priority
and recently released a report detailing water pollution caused by these
operations.


"When these animals arrive at the slaughterhouses, their hides are already
filthy with manure from being raised in such confined spaces," Ms.
Bermudez said, "and they are more likely to be stressed, which helps
create more pathogens."


Richard Cogdill, the chief financial officer of Pilgrim's Pride, disagreed
with the advocates, who, he said, failed to appreciate the voluntary
nature of his company's recall.


"We went way beyond the normal procedures to try to do everything we can
to assure customers that we will not tolerate any tainted product," Mr.
Cogdill said.


He said Pilgrim's Pride, the nation's second-largest poultry producer,
used animals raised in pens within huge plants to ensure total control
over their environment. "Our position is the opposite of the activists,"
Mr. Cogdill said. "To the extent that we can contain and control the
environment, the better we can control bacteria in the animals."


The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the Congress,
disagrees and last summer called for better federal oversight and
enforcement of safety rules.


The National Academy of Sciences said in a recent report that the
Agriculture Department could improve its system for evaluating food safety
risks and among its recommendations was more consistent testing.


Details of the products being recalled can be found on the Web site
www.fsis.usda.gov or by calling an Agriculture Department meat and poultry
hot line, (800) 535-4555.



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Erin E. Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
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