010141 Listeria Tests Required for Ready-to-Eat Meats

Washington - US makers of hot dogs, deli meats and other ready-to-eat meat and poultry will have to begin testing their products to prevent a deadly bacterium from contaminating food, the Clinton administration said.

The proposed rule, issued on the final working day of the Clinton administration, was among a half-dozen food safety measures served up by the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration during the past two days.

The White House also issued a long-awaited report recommending fundamental reforms in how the USDA, FDA, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal offices oversee food safety issues. The report stopped short of calling for the creation of a single food safety agency, but emphasized the need for lawmakers to overhaul existing laws, some of which have been on the books for nearly a century.

In addition to the wide-ranging plan, the administration also hurried to dish up a specific regulation to protect consumers from Listeria in ready-to-eat foods that do not require cooking.

Listeria monocytogenes is a relatively rare foodborne disease but a lethal one. It causes 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths annually, according to US government data. While the pathogen causes mild, flu-like symptoms in most people, it can lead to severe illness and death in the elderly, very young children, pregnant women and people whose immune system is already taxed by other disorders such as AIDS and cancer.

The bacteria thrive in cool, damp places such as refrigerators, making it a particular threat for hot dogs, sausages, pate, refrigerated smoked fish and other ready-to-eat foods. It is destroyed by thorough cooking.

TESTING FOR LISTERIA

Under the proposed rule, makers of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products will have to routinely test production lines for any generic Listeria bacteria on equipment or work areas. If Listeria is found, the plant would also have to sample and test packages of meat at the end of the production line.

“The best way to help ensure the safety of these products is to establish science-based, food safety performance standards and then closely monitor compliance with those standards,” said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

Consumer groups said the proposed rule--which will be up to the Bush administration to finalize -- would help reduce the risk of foodborne disease.

Carol Tucker Foreman, food safety expert with the Consumer Federation of America, said the government should go even farther and require warning labels to alert pregnant women, the elderly and the chronically ill of Listeria risks.

“Why not give consumers the extra protection afforded by a warning statement?” Foreman said. The meat industry said it opposed singling out meat and poultry products for such labels, and not other risky foods.

“It is unfair to inform consumers about safe handling to avoid listeriosis on only some of the recognized food vectors,” said J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute, a trade group.

“If the government's final risk assessment suggests that any new regulatory actions should be taken, such as new 'use-by' labels for consumers, then we believe such actions should be applied evenly across the ready-to-eat food industry,” he added.

On Thursday, the administration issued a draft risk assessment detailing the Listeria risks in 20 different foods.

That report concluded that pregnant women, people over 60, and those with diseases such as cancer, AIDS or diabetes need to avoid certain kinds of refrigerated foods. They should not eat soft cheeses such as feta, brie and Camembert, refrigerated pates or meat spreads, refrigerated smoked seafood and uncooked hog dogs, the report said.

Healthy adults and children over 1-month-old rarely contract Listeria and can eat all those foods as long as they are stored at temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The government took a closer look at its rules for ready-to-eat meat after an outbreak of Listeria in late 1998 in hot dogs made by Sara Lee Corp. The contamination was blamed for 21 deaths and more than 100 illnesses in 22 states.

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