LIVE FROM USDA: Agency to determine soon if Hallmark was isolated incident

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LIVE FROM USDA: Agency to determine soon if Hallmark was isolated incident By Janie Gabbett on 2/22/2008 for Meatingplace.com http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=19883 WASHINGTON – USDA will soon begin increased humane handling observation at all federally inspected U.S. slaughter plants to determine if the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. video that led to the largest recall in history was an isolated incident, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond told Meatingplace.com. In an interview at USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum 2008 here, Raymond said the increased observation will occur in the coming weeks and will determine if there is a need for changes in USDA inspection procedures around humane handling. "One of the

things that we do need to do is increase our observation of the handling of cattle in all of the 900 meat slaughter plants hopefully to determine this was an isolated incident, but if it is not, we need to find that out too," he said. The increased observation will be done by existing plant inspectors, with additional staffing in some cases from district offices to complete the audit. Raymond did not rule out expanding current inspection protocols, but noted that observing cattle mobility to slaughter would be a daunting task that would take more resources or shifted priorities. "To visually observe the animals going into the slaughter facility would require full-time staff for every shift that is operating. That is something that will be on the discussion table, but that would require stopping something we are doing now or asking for more resources." School lunch Despite the media focus on the fact that some of the recalled meat went to school lunch programs, Raymond said requiring special safety requirements for a single program would be a mistake. "My job is to make sure the food is as safe as it possibly can be for all consumers…We have kids who don't go to school who eat these products. We have the elderly who eat these products. So I can't produce a product I feel is safe for the school lunch program but less safe for the rest." Transparency The American Humane Association has called for real-time video feeds from plants to increase transparency and accountability. Asked his view, Raymond said, "Without getting into specifics, I always think transparency is good. I believe one of the ways to generate trust is to be transparent…How we make this specific

issue more transparent is something we are going to have some transparent conversations with industry and consumers about to discuss possible changes." E. coli Despite the attention the Hallmark/Westland recall has given humane handling, Raymond still sees reducing E. coli O157:H7 contamination as his top priority. He said USDA is currently crunching the data about plant procedures it collected from 2,500 plants last fall as part of its approach to reducing incidents of E. coli in beef products. While he is waiting for the final analysis, Raymond said based on what he has seen so far, he does expect there to be some policy and procedure changes as a result.

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