Defending Food Safety : Food Safety Defense Lawyer & Attorney : National Food Industry Counsel : National Food Regulatory Lawyer and Attorney, FDA Lawyer and Attorney. USDA Lawyer and Attorney : Gass Weber Mullins Law Firm

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (“FSIS”) revealed its vision for 2011 at the North American Meat Processors Association’s Annual Outlook Conference. Briefly, Dr. Dan Engeljohn, FSIS’s chief policy writer, touched on the following:

• Salmonella will receive more attention in 2011;
• A HACCP Validation Guidance Draft will be issued in early 2011;
• New regulations for labeling non-intact product may be published in late 2011;
• FSIS will respond to the industry’s petition for carcass irradiation “fairly quickly” (the petition has been pending for five years);
• FSIS will focus more on pre-harvest and carcass interventions for beef in 2011.

With regard to the last point, Dr. Engeljohn said that the agency is developing a draft protocol to study beef carcass contamination levels, with the anticipation it will lead to better controls immediately after hide removal. In conjunction with the carcass study, the FSIS will also conduct tests on cattle and water in holding pens. Dr. Engeljohn said pork, poultry and veal slaughter facilities should expect a similar approach from FSIS.

Food manufacturer Cargill has already placed incredible emphasis on preventing contamination at its root. The company, along with Epitopix and the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, developed a cattle vaccine project aimed at reducing E. coli O157:H7 in cattle before they reach the processing plant. On Monday, Cargill announced encouraging preliminary results from its first vaccine trial.

The first trial, at a cost of $1 million, involved 85,000 head of beef cattle from 10 feedlots. The vaccinated cattle, harvested by Cargill from May through August, had a favorable immune system response to the vaccine with no adverse reaction. There was enough promising evidence in the first trial that the company will conduct a second trial in summer 2011.

Dan Schaefer, Cargill assistant vice president for beef research and development stated “While additional research is required to better understand vaccine's potential value in controlling E. coli O157:H7 from farm and feedlot to consumers, we're committed to that pursuit. We continuously strive to provide the safest food possible, every serving, every time.”

We are certainly hopeful that the continued endeavors of government and industry alike will yield safer food in 2011 and beyond.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) may be one step closer to taking a substantive stance regarding the non-O157 STEC issue. Recent statements made by the FSIS describe the agency’s progress, and hint at additional regulation.

In October 2009, Bill Marler (a national plaintiffs’ food lawyer) submitted an interpretive rule petition to the FSIS requesting that all non-O157 Shiga toxin producing E. coli (“non-O157 STECs”) be declared adulterants in ground beef. In response to the petition, FSIS stated that when it had an appropriate laboratory method for conducting regulatory sampling for non-O157 STECs, and had developed a plan for how it intended to address the issue, it would make the plan available to the public for comment and would, at the same time, issue a final response to the petition.

Two months ago, Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, Under Secretary for Food Safety, touched on the non-O157 STEC issue at the 2010 National Food Policy Conference and in a statement to the New York Times. Dr. Hagen said that FSIS policies “need to evolve to address a broader range of pathogens, beyond E. coli O157:H7.” She queried how we best protect consumers from pathogens that are not addressed by current policies.

A few weeks ago at the North American Meat Processors (NAMP) annual conference, Dr. Dan Engeljohn revealed that FSIS is “very close to having a [test] methodology for all six” non-O157 STECs. Dr. Engeljohn is the FSIS’s chief policy writer. He reiterated the steps which FSIS will take following completion of the test methodology – a Federal Register notice will outline an enforcement strategy, followed by public meetings and comment, and the issuance of guidance.

While FSIS action is on the horizon, we of course urge the agency to consider carefully the American Meat Institute’s recommendations on non-O157 STECs, summarized as follows:

1. Focus on Prevention
2. Conduct a Comprehensive Public Health Risk Assessment
3. Validate Analytical Laboratory Test Methods
4. Conduct a Baseline Survey of Non-O157:H7 STECs on Beef Products
5. Measure Progress Based on the Public Health Outcome
6. Expedite Approval of New Microbial Interventions
7. Determine Impact on International Trade
8. Provide an Open and Transparent Public Policy Process

A focus on prevention should remain the number one priority. The AMI said it well: Making a pathogen illegal through a policy change will not prevent this pathogen from occurring. Making non-O157:H7 STECs illegal could also divert scarce resources away from enhancing food safety prevention efforts. Click on the following link to view the AMI’s Position on non-O157:H7 STECs.

As noted, a rush to implement test and hold programs for non-O157 STECs could potentially distract from research into even better interventions that prevent O157 and non-O157 contamination alike. The industry’s resistance to additional testing, however, is poorly perceived by consumers because the general public fails to realize the incredible shortcomings of testing. Safer food flows from preventing contamination in the first instance, rather than searching for a needle in a haystack.

And, lest consumers believe that industry is only concerned about the bottom line, I will take this opportunity to commend our food manufacturers on the incredible effort and investment which has greatly improved food safety in the past 15 years. Dr. Engeljohn specifically applauded the beef industry at the NAMP conference. The AMI Foundation alone has millions of dollars in grants towards developing new food safety technologies, and major industry manufacturers have spent billions on food safety improvements.

Hopefully, FSIS respectfully considers the industry’s perspective on non-O157 STECs. We, of course, will continue to follow this issue closely.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link