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Packers, processors prepare for non-O157 STEC testing
Story Date: 3/19/2012
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Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 3/16/12
Beef packers and further processors say there are more questions than answers as they prepare for the June 4 implementation of USDA’s testing for non-O157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in raw beef trim, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps operators can take to make sure their processes are in order.
Speaking here at the North American Meat Processors Association’s annual Meat Industry Management Conference, industry leaders Barb Masters (Olsson, Frank & Weeda), Brenden McCullough (National Beef Packing Co.) and Tim Biela (AFA Foods) urged processors to re-evaluate their HACCP plans and be able to document their ability to control USDA’s new set of six banned pathogens. They can do that using their O157 data because, as regulators have said, existing interventions against that strain have the same impact on non-O157 STEC.
“We’ve got to have the right systems in place,” Biela said. “The right systems are based on the HACCP principles of creating safe food. You have to look at your process and the product you’re producing and consider all the hazards that might be encountered in that process and then address those hazards.”
Further processors, the speakers said, must modify their purchasing specifications and have letters of guarantee saying their suppliers have interventions in place to effectively address STECs. Biela urged them to define the standards they want their suppliers to achieve and talk with their suppliers if those standards aren't being met.
That’s what operators can do. What they can’t do currently is say when, notwithstanding the June 4 start date, there will be a testing method that can return reliable results within a timeframe that would allow product to enter commerce.
McCullough said potential positives for non-O157 STEC could be as high as 30 percent — “a scary number” given the prospect of having to divert so much product to cooking and thereby significantly devalue it.
Still, he said, “There’s not a crisis. There’s a direction. There’s a move by USDA to test for STECs. That doesn’t mean the world’s crashing down …. If we were in a situation where we had a [repeat of the] Jack in the Box [recall in 1993], I’d have a totally different message for you. That’s not where we’re at. I’m not trying to belittle the importance of STECs, but I do want to make sure that everybody understands there is an economic cost to this and we need to understand there’s a process we need to work within.”
Other FSIS initiatives
In a later session, Dan Engeljohn, assistant administrator, Office of Policy and Program Development, USDA-FSIS, discussed some of the agency's expected areas of focus on non-O157 STEC, and some of the initiatives that the agency has underway.
Among them, he explained, were:
Preparing to issue validation guidance, as a draft document open for comment. "Our expectation is that we would be able to finalize and begin implementing against that guidance this summer," Engeljohn said.
Development of a baseline study on beef carcasses, seeking to measure the level of contamination immediately after the hide is removed and before any antimicrobials are applied.
Preparing to issue — in days from now — a traceback policy that will, among other provisons, tighten up requirements on slaughter operations and the conditions under which they may be required to expand recalls to additional lots.
Preparing to begin coanalyzing of all samples for all STECs and for Salmonella.Preparing to issue a new proposed rule this spring boosting the agency's ability to traceback the source of products, that would require FSIS inspected establishments and retail operations to keep better records.
Preparing to issue a proposed rule on mandatory labels for mechanically tenderized beef. The rule is expected to require cooking instructions for the consumer on the labels.
Preparing to unveil the agency's test-and-hold policy, due in the spring, the goal of which is for companies to hold back from commerce any lots that FSIS is testing for any adulterants.
Acting on a memorandum of understanding with ARS sharing beef samples taken for STEC testing, seeking to profile the presence of STECs in the beef supply.
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
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