Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 3/19/10

USDA is testing cattle, hog, chicken and turkey carcasses to reset existing pathogen testing baselines and plans to create baselines for beef trim, other beef components, bench trim, ground beef and chicken parts, according to a USDA official.

The baselines are used to determine the process control capability of the industry, Deputy Assistant Administrator for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service Daniel Engeljohn told participants at a one-day seminar in Chicago on E. coli O157:H7 prevention presented by the North American Meat Processors Association.

To create the beef baselines, USDA will take one sample immediately post-hide removal but prior to decontamination interventions and evisceration. A second sample will be taken post-chill after all decontamination interventions but prior to fabrication. The tests will baseline pathogen reductions achieved by current industry practices.

When USDA first issued HACCP regulations in the mid-1990s the agency created baselines for nine classes of pork, poultry and beef carcasses and used that baseline data to establish pathogen performance standards.

Engeljohn told Meatingplace that for hog and poultry carcasses, these new tests will reset the performance standards. For cattle, earlier tests were only performed post-chill, so adding the pre-decontamination test will provide new data upon which to base performance standards. For trim, other beef components, bench trim, ground beef and chicken parts, the tests will create new performance standards.

Engeljohn said it takes about a year to complete the baseline testing. USDA has already started on hogs and plans to start on cattle at the beginning of 2011.

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