Bush the Chicken

October 16, 2002

Dangerous Chicken - NYT

This week's recall of 27.4 million pounds of cooked turkey and chicken

products might have been avoided if the Bush administration had instituted

rules designed to protect consumers from a dangerous bacteria called

Listeria monocytogenes.

The recall, by the Pilgrim's Pride Corporation, the largest in Agriculture

Department history, followed an outbreak of Listeria in seven Northeastern

states this summer that killed seven people and caused illness in dozens of

others. After government inspectors found a Listeria infestation at the

company's plant in Franconia, Pa., Pilgrim's Pride recalled all its cooked

deli products made from May 1 to Oct. 11 and halted production at the

plant. The Agriculture Department now says Pilgrim's Pride was a likely

source of the summer outbreak.

Even now, however, the department appears in no hurry to activate safety

standards that could reduce the risk of future outbreaks. Under industry

influence the administration has declined to adopt meat safety regulations

readied for action at the end of the Clinton era. Had it moved forward with

the rules, health and consumer groups argue, the Listeria infestation, as

well as the subsequent illnesses and deaths, might have been avoided. The

Clinton regulations would establish a mandatory testing regimen for

Listeria monocytogenes. Though not foolproof, such testing, done with

sufficient frequency, would reduce the risk of contamination.

At the least, the department must end misleading labeling practices.

Packaged deli and luncheon meats now labeled " cooked " and " ready-to-eat "

can have dire consequences for pregnant women, the elderly and

immune-suppressed people who eat them without reheating; the labels should

say so.

The Agriculture Department promises to convene a group of experts to study

Listeria further. Although more study can't hurt, it is time that the

department treated the entire matter with a sense of urgency. Most people

with a healthy immune system can fight off the bacteria with little

problem. Others are not so lucky.

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