 991217 USDA Now Halting Inspections For HACCP BreachesDecember 1, 1999 Washington - USDA has announced that it will begin suspending federal inspections at meat and poultry plants if companies fail to follow new HACCP- based tests and standards to detect illness-causing bacteria. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service updated its enforcement procedures in a Federal Register notice to spell out when the government would pull its inspectors or withdraw the official mark of inspection. The actions effectively force a plant to shut down all or some production lines. The new set of rules makes it clear that U.S. meat and poultry plants failing to follow their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans can face severe punishment by the FSIS. The HACCP plans, which establish food safety checkpoints, are required of all U.S. plants (except the industry's smallest plants, though they too will fall under HACCP guidelines in January). Some industry groups had argued that a plant's failure to meet salmonella performance standards or to carry out generic E. coli testing -- both part of the HACCP program -- should not be grounds for suspending federal inspections. Under a nearly century-old law, the USDA is required to conduct daily inspections of meat and poultry plants to ensure sanitary conditions. Federal inspectors stamp each package with a USDA mark of inspection indicating the food is safe and wholesome before shipment to retailers. "The HACCP regulations, the salmonella performance standards, and the generic E. coli testing requirements are material components of an effective sanitation program," the USDA said. "For example, E. coli testing is prescribed in the HACCP/pathogen reduction regulations to verify that the establishment is employing sanitary dressing procedures to prevent the fecal contamination of carcasses. Also, the Salmonella performance standards were adopted to ensure that an establishment's procedures, practices, and controls, as embodied in its HACCP plans, are working properly." The USDA said it could suspend federal inspections without prior notice to a plant if there was an "imminent threat" to public health. Under federal law, the USDA can punish plants for unsanitary conditions in three general ways. The most common enforcement action is to halt a specific production line or the processing of a specific product. For more serious offenses, the USDA can withold the federal mark of inspection for some or all products. And if public health is at risk, the USDA can pull federal inspectors out of a plant. The USDA also said it would respond to the U.S. meat industry's plea for a new, faster procedure to appeal agency decisions that affect a plant's production. "FSIS plans to issue a proposed rulemaking related to the appeals process at a later date," the agency said without elaborating. U.S. meat and poultry plants can also face enforcement actions if they fail to humanely slaughter livestock or destroy products condemned by federal inspectors.
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