Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 12/30/14

USDA’s Economic Research Service has published results of its study of the food safety performance of suppliers approved to sell raw and cooked ground beef through USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).

Ground beef suppliers to NSLP must be low-cost bidders and also meet AMS’s strict food safety standards. While gaining AMS approval to bid to supply NSLP is relatively low cost, actually supplying ground beef to schools may be costly because AMS suppliers must meet strict food safety tolerances.

Producers of ground beef respond to these requirements by (1) seeking AMS approval to supply NSLP and bidding on contracts (active suppliers), (2) seeking AMS approval and not bidding on contracts (inactive suppliers), or (3) choosing not to gain approval and selling only in the commercial market.

ERS researchers examined the food safety performance for all three categories using performance on tests for Salmonella spp as a measure of food safety.

The research found:
• The food safety performance of active AMS ground beef suppliers to NSLP exceeded the performance of inactive AMS and commercial market suppliers, suggesting that AMS standards encourage superior food safety performance. The data show that Salmonella spp contamination in ground beef tested by AMS was nearly absent.
• The food safety performance of inactive AMS ground beef suppliers was worse than that of all other ground beef suppliers on tests that were one-half to one-tenth the FSIS tolerance for Salmonella Spp. These relatively weak results imply that AMS’s priority on low costs may encourage suppliers that invest less in food safety to seek AMS approval to supply NSLP. Nonetheless, inactive suppliers performed very well, on average, greatly exceeding the FSIS tolerance for Salmonella spp.
• The food safety performance of active AMS ground beef suppliers on products sold in the commercial market matched that of commercial suppliers and surpassed that of inactive AMS ground beef suppliers on standards that were one-half, one-fourth, and one-tenth the FSIS tolerance for Salmonella spp.
• Some evidence suggests that AMS suppliers consider their food safety performance prior to bidding on contracts to supply the NSLP and place bids only if they are confident their performance meets AMS food safety standards. AMS suppliers that do not bid on NSLP contracts sell their ground beef in the commercial market to other buyers.

How the study was conducted
ERS researchers used probit regressions to estimate the effect of being a particular type of supplier (active and approved, inactive and approved, commercial supplier only) on the probability that the ground beef produced by the establishment exceeded the tolerance for Salmonella spp established by FSIS

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Data came from FSIS and AMS. The FSIS data included Salmonella spp test results, USDA administrative data, and Dun & Bradstreet information on firm characteristics. AMS data included Salmonella spp test results and contract bidding data.

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