Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 1/12/12


The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has updated its list of allowed substances in meat and poultry products.

Directive 7120.1, Revision 10: Safe and Suitable Ingredients Used in the Production of Meat, Poultry and Egg Products provides inspection program personnel with an up-to-date list of substances that may be used in the production of meat, poultry and egg products.

Among the products is ammonium hydroxide, which is used to kill pathogens in lean ground beef. The directive comes just two weeks after the media reported that McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Burger King had stopped buying the product from Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based Beef Products Inc. The company reportedly lost about 25 percent of its business and has had to cut production to four days a week from five in light of criticism of the product.

In its directive, FSIS reiterates that use of the substance has no special labeling requirements.

"BPI took the lead in developing a process that controls dangerous pathogens in beef. Their commitment to food safety and the fact that their products have been widely used by ground beef processors have contributed to the progress the industry has made in controlling E. coli O157:H7," Jim Marsden, regent’s distinguished professor at Kansas State University and a food safety blogger, told Meatingplace last month.
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