010417 U.S. Will NOT Scrap Testing of School Meat

Washington - The Bush administration abandoned a plan to stop salmonella testing of beef for the national school lunch program after critics denounced the plan as a move that would put children at risk.

The White House announcement reversed a notice published by USDA last week that said it would stop requiring the food safety tests for the more than 100 million pounds of ground beef the government buys each year.

Administration officials said the plan to drop testing was put forward by a low-level USDA official, and was not approved by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

``The secretary is the one who makes those decisions, and the secretary had not made a decision until today,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. ``The secretary made her decision based on the merits and based on protecting schoolchildren.''

The plan to stop the tests was published by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service on the agency's Internet site, and said comments from the public would be accepted through April 30.

Last June the USDA, under the Clinton administration, ordered suppliers to test raw meat for salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7 and other food-borne bacteria.

Salmonella can cause vomiting, diarrhea and fever in healthy adults, and can be deadly for elderly or people with weak immune systems. An estimated 600 Americans die from salmonella annually out of 1.4 million cases, according to federal health data.

Of the 120 million pounds of ground beef purchased and tested last year, 7% was rejected for various types of contamination, according to USDA data.

Consumer groups and some Democrats slammed the Bush administration for seeking to eliminate salmonella testing, saying that last year, almost 5 million pounds of meat destined for schoolchildren was found to be contaminated with salmonella.

The meat processing industry has repeatedly called for an end to the USDA testing requirements. Beef processors argued that salmonella testing increased costs and was an unfair way to assess a company's overall sanitation standards.

Consumer groups, however, expressed relief at the decision to keep the tests in place.

``I have to thank the Bush administration for seeing the folly of its ways and changing their decision,'' said Carol Tucker Foreman, food safety specialist with the Consumer Federation of America, adding that ``it's a privilege'' to sell meat to the federal government.

Ken Clayton, acting administrator for the Agricultural Marketing Service, told reporters at a news conference that salmonella testing was not necessary. ''Everybody knew last year that these standards were interim, and the plan was always to review them,'' Clayton said.

But Veneman, who has been on the job for 3 months, said she was never briefed on the planned change.

``These proposed changes were released prior to receiving appropriate review,'' she said in a statement.

``USDA will continue to examine additional measures to improve food safety and will consider new contract procedures after appropriate scientific-based information is received from all interested parties,'' Veneman added.

Chandler Keys, vice president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said his organization has been ``supportive'' of setting a USDA salmonella standard for beef bought under the school lunch program.

But instead of the current rule, Keys said his organization prefers the adoption of meat-buying standards that ``mimic'' rules recently instituted by large commercial firms, such as McDonald's and Burger King. Those toughened rules tolerate a tiny amount of salmonella, which is killed in the cooking process.

American Meat Institute president Patrick Boyle said in a statement that the USDA's salmonella standard ``does nothing to promote children's health,'' and noted that the government does not impose a similar standard on ``produce, ground turkey or ground pork.''

``Schools are required to cook raw ground beef to 160 degrees, which kills bacteria, which begs the question, 'Why a zero tolerance standard when the product must be thoroughly cooked?'.''

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