A US court has ruled that federal inspectors cannot shut down meat processors just because they find salmonella-tainted meat, since salmonella occurs naturally and can be destroyed by cooking.
The decision strikes a blow against a modernised meat inspection system the US Department of Agriculture started implementing five years ago. Lawmakers and consumer groups say they will push for new legislation to allow the salmonella tests.
“The court has blown a huge hole in the USDA program,” says Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America in Washington.
But the meat processing industry welcomed the decision. “The salmonella standards were arbitrary standards that were not based on good science,” says Jeremy Russell, of the National Meat Association in Oakland, California.
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“Poke and sniff”
Until recently, USDA inspectors used “poke and sniff” inspections, checking for discolouration or odour. In 1996, the USDA started testing directly for salmonella, using laboratory methods. The EU is considering requiring similar tests.
Supreme Beef Processors Inc., a Dallas ground beef maker, failed salmonella tests over the course of almost a year, and won a lawsuit after the USDA tried to shut it down. The Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision last week.
The court said that the 1906 law that gives the USDA its authority only prevents processors from adding contaminants to meat. Since the meat was already contaminated with salmonella when it got to Supreme Beef, the company was not responsible.
The Centers for Disease Control estimate about 1.3 million Americans become ill from salmonella poisoning a year, and 550 die, either from eating undercooked meat or from cross-contamination of other foods.
Clean indicator
But the USDA did not condemn the salmonella-contaminated meat and allowed it to be sold. It argued that tests of salmonella levels were intended to indicate how clean the plant was overall – not weed out bad batches. But Russell says the standards were arbitrary and had nothing to do with public health.
Consumer groups had wanted the USDA to test for other bacteria as well and to set minimum standards for meat to be approved.
“This decision is a significant step backwards in the safety of ground beef,” says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.
Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, will announce on Wednesday his support for new legislation to allow the USDA to test for bacteria.
