001248 Meat Industry Looks for Rollbacks

Washington - Meatpackers want the incoming Republican administration to throw out the Agriculture Department's new rules for punishing processors who exceed limits for salmonella and other microbes.

The regulations, which became effective earlier this year, allow USDA inspectors to slow down or even close processors for violations of microbial standards or sanitation procedures.

The rules “jeopardize the reputation and successful operation of meat and poultry companies without any legal justification,” said Mark Dopp, vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel for the American Meat Institute.

The institute was one of three trade groups that petitioned the department late last week to overturn the regulations.

The department tried unsuccessfully last year to shut down a Dallas beef processor after the plant failed a series of salmonella tests.

A federal judge later barred USDA from using such test results to force the closing of the facility, agreeing with the meatpacking industry that testing for salmonella bacteria was not a fair measure of whether a plant was sanitary. The company, Supreme Beef Processors, filed for bankruptcy in September.

USDA has developed new testing requirements for Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 that may be released before President Clinton leaves office Jan. 20.

The meat institute issued a statement last Thursday congratulating Bush on his victory and noting that he had wide support in the industry because he “appreciates the challenges businesses face and the need to embrace true science in enacting policy.” The petition was filed with USDA the next day.

Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute, said Tuesday that she expected the meat industry to try to roll back regulations imposed by the Clinton administration.

“My guess is that this is going to be the first shot out of the cannon,” said Foreman, who oversaw meat regulation at USDA during the Carter administration.

Bush has yet to name a new agriculture secretary. Ann Veneman, a former top USDA official and former California agriculture director, and Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, are considered the leading candidates.

Officials with USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, declined comment on the meat industry petition, but said they were unlikely to act on it before the new administration takes over.

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