000635 Texas Hamburger Plant Flunks Food Safety TestJune 16, 2000Washington - The Texas hamburger plant at the center of a landmark lawsuit challenging the U.S. Agriculture Department's food safety testing has flunked another set of salmonella tests, the USDA said. Supreme Beef Processors Inc. won a key victory last month when a federal judge ruled that the USDA tests to detect salmonella contamination at meat processing plants were not a fair way to determine if a plant is clean. The Clinton administration, which plants to appeal the court ruling, contends that the food safety tests have dramatically cut salmonella contamination on raw meat and poultry by up to 50% in the past two years. Tom Billy, administrator of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said new results show Supreme Beef failed its fourth consecutive set of tests for salmonella. The latest set of tests were performed by regulators to determine if the plant had changed procedures to make its hamburger safer. “If this were any other plant, FSIS would immediately suspend inspection upon learning that the corrective changes were inadequate,” Billy said in a statement. “However, because of a federal district court decision in Texas, we are precluded from suspending inspection, which shuts down the ground beef operations, even though Supreme Beef has failed to meet a food safety standard that other plants around the country are required to meet,” he said. The government is asking Supreme Beef to voluntarily shut its plant until it can pass food safety tests, Billy said. Supreme Beef, which grinds about 500,000 pounds of hamburger daily, has repeatedly said that its plant produces safe food. The company challenged the USDA, saying its salmonella tests are arbitrary and an unfair way to measure food safety. The USDA salmonella tests allow a 7.5% rate of salmonella contamination in ground beef, and higher levels in raw chicken and turkey.
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