000257 Poultry Industry Praised For Making “Fundamental Change”

Murray Hill, NJ - The head of a leading consumer advocacy group lauded the poultry industry for “making huge inroads towards eliminating Salmonella” and promised to help tear down regulatory barriers during her keynote speech at the fifth annual Poultry Industry Panel Discussion, sponsored by BOC Gases and Ecolab at the International Poultry Exposition in Atlanta last month.

Caroline Smith DeWaal, the director of the food safety program for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said “I think we have seen a fundamental change in the poultry industry since the advent of the USDA's new Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) pathogen reduction program. The American public, though, isn't going to be truly satisfied until you can deliver to them a product that is even safer than what you're producing today. We want to help you do that.”

“If there are barriers in Washington to improving food safety that are bigger than the barriers in your plants to getting rid of those pathogens, then we have to tear those down,” she added. “We will work with you in Washington to get rid of barriers to improve food safety. The poultry industry is on a new track but it's important that you know that you need to be moving forward on that track faster than you've ever moved before.”

James Marion, Ph.D., professor of poultry science at Auburn University and a technical advisor to the National Chicken Council, noted that the poultry industry was in a unique position, working with the government, consumer groups and technology providers to improve the quality and safety of its products. “As we start this new millennium, our industry is at a point in time that we've never been before. If we can fully capture HACCP within the poultry industry and continue to change inspection methods to fit HACCP, it will solve a lot of problems. If we, as a group, don't advance our industry, and advance at a pretty rapid rate, it's because we're refusing to think, we're refusing to commit.”

William J. Hudnall, Jr., assistant deputy administrator, Office of Policy, Program Development, and Evaluation for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), noted, “When I think back over the last several years, one of the most significant changes in attitude that I can recall is the simple acceptance of the fact today that foodborne illnesses can be prevented. That sounds simple, it shouldn't be startling, but it has not always been the attitude. We are interested in new technologies, we believe that the improvements in food safety that we want to see continue, are in large measure dependent upon new technologies and innovation.”

Louis Caracciolo, a food safety consultant and president of Louis/Tressler & Company, observed that government regulations stymied innovation in the poultry industry for the past 95 years. “If you had a federal inspector in your plant, and he was willing to give you the stamp of approval, then you had absolutely no reason to change. The breakthrough occurred when we went to HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points). Early adopters of new technology sometimes have to spend more money than the companies who come later, but the early adopters will usually gain an enormous competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

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