Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 3/25/10

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) on Wednesday proposed the Meat Safety and Accountability Act, which would mandate quicker, more extensive actions by USDA inspectors to trace meat products back to their points of origin when they are either adulterated or contaminated with pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella.

Tester's legislation would require USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service to design and implement an initiative to trace tainted meat back to the original source of contamination and would expand testing at meat suppliers and individual meat processors in the case of an outbreak.

In a news release, Tester said his legislation is designed to hold "the right people accountable when something goes wrong," such as potentially life-threatening outbreaks of E. coli or salmonella contamination. He also said the legislation would "help small meat processors in rural America that too often get blamed for contamination that didn't begin with them."

Specifics

The bill states it is essential that federal meat inspection programs identify all sources, including the slaughterhouse source, of original adulteration and contamination of enteric foodborne pathogens in meat when either lab samples test positive for enteric pathogen adulteration or contamination or when meat that is adulterated or contaminated is found in commerce, including foodborne outbreaks.

Enteric pathogens are those that emanate from within animals' intestines, including E. coli and salmonella. Currently, USDA launches traceback actions when E. coli O157:H7-tainted meat is found to be the cause of an illness outbreak, but does not necessarily do so every time routine in-plant test results show an E. coli O157:H7 positive.

The legislation calls on the agriculture secretary to implement sampling protocols that enable FSIS to rapidly trace potential adulteration and contamination of meat and meat food products by enteric foodborne pathogens to possible preceding sources, including preparation, packaging and slaughter establishments, to determine the original site source.

To view the proposed legislation click here.

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