Source: Julie Larson Bricher, MEATINGPLACE, 8/29/18


In a strongly worded official statement released this morning, USDA FSIS Acting Deputy Under Secretary Carmen Rottenberg took issue with the conclusions of a newly published Consumer Reports (CR) article that suggests that banned or restricted drugs may appear in the U.S. meat supply more often than was previously known.

"You may have seen a Consumer Reports story claiming that the poultry and meat you purchase in the grocery store and feed your families could contain harmful drug residues," Rottenberg wrote in the FSIS statement. "That is not true. This story is sensational and fear-based infotainment aimed at confusing shoppers with pseudoscience and scare tactics."

The article, "Are Banned Drugs in Your Meat?", asserts that data obtained from the agency via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that trace amounts of prohibited drugs — including ketamine, phenylbutazone and chloramphenicol — were found in meat and poultry samples taken between October 2015 and September 2016. Based on analysis by CR's food safety scientists, the report calls into question FSIS drug residue testing methods and acceptable level cutoffs and accuses the agency of "failing to ensure that meat is free of potentially unsafe drug residue."  

In her response, Rottenberg stated that the FOIA data on which the CR report is based are misleading. "On March 3, 2017, in our haste to be transparent and responsive, we mistakenly released in response to a FOIA request, unconfirmed, preliminary test results for samples taken from poultry," she wrote. "We corrected our mistake with the requestor. However, the unconfirmed sampling results continue to be passed around as accurate, truthful information – they are not."

FSIS performed the complete screening and testing process on all the samples represented, wrote Rottenberg. "The final, confirmed and validated test results show that there were no drug residues in the chicken. If violative drug residues are found in any meat or poultry product, FSIS does not allow that product to be sold for human food.

"Consumer Reports admits in their closing paragraph that the real agenda behind this piece is to convince Americans to eat less meat," she added. "Shame on Consumer Reports for attempting to advance a rhetoric that lacks scientific support or data, at the expense of American producers and the 9,000 food safety professionals who ensure the safety of meat and poultry in this country every day."

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) issued a statement calling the Consumer Reports article "sensationalist journalism."

"Knowingly printing inaccurate and misleading articles, which rely on information that is known to be false, misleads consumers about the competency of the current food safety programs in place at USDA. Those programs have long been the global gold standard for food safety and today they continue to provide overlapping safeguards to ensure consumers are receiving wholesome and safe products," NCBA said.

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