Washington - Tyson Foods Inc. has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to scrap its proposal to regulate the amount of water used in poultry processing.
In a letter received by the USDA, Tyson said the proposal, which would require poultry processors to prove they need to continue the practice of chilling poultry in baths of water after slaughter, is unsafe and unfair.
Under the USDA proposal, if poultry processors prove that the water is necessary for food safety, they will have to label their products to let customers know that the chicken or turkeys may weigh more, and potentially cost more, due to absorbed water.
Poultry processors say the chilling process is essential to fight harmful bacteria, such as salmonella, from entering the nation's food supply.
“It is not sound public policy and will only serve to confuse customers, does not provide equity with both meat and poultry products and finally is regulatory overreaction to a simple need for data on current technology that is acknowledged to be the best method available,” Tyson President Donald “Buddy” Wray wrote.
Tyson, based in Springdale, Ark., controls more than a quarter of the U.S. chicken market.
The Agriculture Department has received 250 comments on the proposal since it was announced in September. The proposal launched a verbal war between red meat and white meat producers with consumer groups, state government agencies and even the American Association of Retired Persons thrown in.
The comment period ended Jan. 13 after it was extended following requests for more time.
Poultry processors use large amounts of water from high-powered hoses and chilling baths to bring the internal temperatures of chickens and turkeys down to government standards as well as to clean and sanitize the birds.
Members of the red meat industry, who generally use light misting and air chilling methods to cool their products, have long argued that government rules that greatly limit the use of water in beef, lamb and pork processing also should apply to poultry.
A federal district court ruled more than a year ago that water levels used in poultry processing were not based on scientific data. Some have suggested poultry processors use more than enough water in their plants in an underhanded attempt to add weight and fatten income.
But Tyson's Wray said it would be difficult to monitor how much water is retained in poultry sold in grocery stores.
“It will be extremely impractical, and virtually impossible in some processes, to determine the water retention of parts and ground products every day,” Wray wrote.
The USDA said the expense of reducing water retention and labeling could cost the poultry industry millions of dollars. And most of the costs would fall on larger companies, such as Tyson, the USDA noted.
On Friday, Tyson's stock rose 31.25 cents to $20.375 a share in composite New York Stock Exchange trading.
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