Defending Food Safety : Food Safety Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Gass Weber Mullins Law Firm : National Food Product Defense Counsel : Defending Food Safety Blog

Walmart and Sam’s Club have announced that they will impose enhanced food safety measures on their beef suppliers.

According to the company, the new mandates are designed to reduce to the greatest extent possible the risk of potential contamination by pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. Click on the the following link to view Walmart’s Beef Safety Press Release.

Under the new standards, beef processing (grinding) facilities which supply the company will be required to provide validated evidence within the next year that their process controls can achieve a 2-log reduction of pathogenic microorganisms. By June 2011, slaughter facilities supplying the company will be required to demonstrate a 3-log reduction. In turn, Walmart has also mandated that, by June 2012, slaughter facilities must go even further and validate a cumulative 5-log reduction.

Dr. James Marsden, a food safety scientist, stated that “Walmart has taken steps to provide its customers with the safest possible beef products. Consumers across the United States will benefit greatly from this timely food safety initiative.” Given the breadth of Walmart’s influence, Dr. Marsden’s comment cannot be underscored enough. More than 200 million people shop at the 4,300 Walmart stores throughout the nation.

Walmart’s imposition of more stringent standards does not mean, however, that most manufacturers are not already doing virtually everything they can to produce safe and wholesome food. Tyson, a major Walmart beef supplier, believes that its food safety measures are already in line with the new protocol. Thus, for many suppliers, meeting Walmart’s expectations will likely only entail producing microbiological testing data to verify that those interventions already in place are effective. With that said, however, most also agree that any new requirements set by the retail giant can only push those manufacturers not already reaching a very high standard to strive even harder.

Of note, Walmart excluded irradiation as an approved intervention for its beef. Although irradiation can safely destroy pathogens in ground beef, some types can slightly affect beef quality and many consumers are still leery of the concept. Nevertheless, as we reported previously, the technology is improving and hopefully someday, with additional research and consumer education, it will be a viable alternative for all foods.

In any event, while researches and industry continue to seek new interventions that may someday effectively eliminate pathogens in ground beef, Walmart’s new requirements appear to be yet another step in the right direction as we all strive to make the food we eat as safe as possible.

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

The State of California recently enacted a new criminal law, effective January 1, 2009, designed to prevent slaughterhouses from purchasing and processing non-ambulatory animals for human consumption. As enacted, Section 599f amended the California Penal Code to criminalize, without exception, the receipt and use of non-ambulatory animals by slaughter facilities.

In response, the National Meat Association (“NMA”) sought and obtained a preliminary injunction to prevent the State of California from enforcing the new law. NMA, et al. v. Brown et. al, Case No. CV-F-08-1963 (E.D. Cal. 2008). In its briefs, NMA argued that the treatment of non-ambulatory animals was already regulated extensively by the Federal Meat Inspection Act (“FMIA”), which expressly permits, subject to certain requirements, the receipt and use of non-ambulatory animals for slaughter. Under the FMIA (21 U.S.C. § 601, et seq.) and its implementing regulations, non-ambulatory animals may be processed for human consumption if the animals are first inspected for disease and then passed by a federal veterinarian inspector. Because the California law attempted to criminalize what the FMIA permits, NMA argued persuasively that the California initiative was preempted.

Indeed, the FMIA (a distant relative of the 1906 Wholesome Meat Act) regulates virtually every aspect of meat production. The Act requires continuous federal inspection in meat packing plants, often times by multiple inspectors. These federal inspectors are responsible for ensuring that all animals entering slaughter facilities are healthy and free from disease, and that all meat products subsequently produced from such animals are safe, wholesome and not adulterated. Currently, the federal statutory and regulatory scheme is enforced by the Food Safety Inspection Service (a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture).

To ensure that the FMIA and its uniform national requirements are not usurped by the individual states, the FMIA contains an express preemption provision which prevents states from enacting or enforcing any laws that are “different” from the federal standards. 21 U.S.C. § 678. Thus, under the FMIA, any state laws which attempt to penalize a food producer for doing what federal law permits (whether the laws relate to production or product labeling) are strictly preempted.

In this case, the new California criminal law conflicted directly with the federal statutory and regulatory scheme. Because the FMIA permits the use of non-ambulatory animals for slaughter (assuming such animals have been declared to be free from disease by a federal FSIS veterinarian inspector), the Court granted NMA’s request for a preliminary injunction. In its February 19, 2009 Decision, the Court reasoned that the California Penal Code, Section 599f, was both expressly and implicitly preempted under the FMIA and its implementing regulations.

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