SEMA_________________________________

SOUTHEASTERN MEAT ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 620777; Oviedo, FL 32762 Phone: 407-365-5661

SEMA 2008-2009 OFFICERS & DIRECTORS

During the June SEMA convention at the Hammock Beach Resort, the Southeastern Meat Association members elected the following Board of Directors for the fiscal year 2008-2009.

Board of Directors re-elected to the board:
George Baker, R.L. Ziegler Co. Inc. / Jimmy Carroll, Sunset Farm Foods / Kevin Crofton, Crofton & Sons / Al Kaempfer, Register Meat Co. / David Lee, D.L. Lee & Sons / Ferril Maddox, Encore Sales & Marketing / Billy Nettles, Nettles Sausage Co / David Solana, Roger Wood Foods Inc.
Harry Wampler, Family Brand International / Don Wilson, Fieldstone Meats of Alabama
Ron Brown, Cryovac Sealed Air / Gene Funkhouser, A.C. Legg, Inc. / Karla Weiszer, Wolfson Casing Corp.

New to the board this year:
Hugh Tyler, The Butcher Shop

Thanks to Larry Odom, Odom’s Tennessee Pride and Chris Huff, Flanders Provision for their service and participation on the board.

The SEMA Officers were elected for a two year term, to be completed June 2009:

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued an interim final rule for the mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) program that will become effective on Sept. 30, 2008. The final ruling will be published in the Federal Register on August 1st.

The rule covers muscle cuts and ground beef (including veal), lamb, chicken, goat, and pork; perishable agricultural commodities (fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables); macadamia nuts; pecans; ginseng; and peanuts -- as required by the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills. USDA implemented the COOL program for fish and shellfish covered commodities in October 2004. Commodities covered under COOL must be labeled at retail to indicate their country of origin. However, they are excluded from mandatory COOL if they are an ingredient in a processed food item. USDA has also revised the definition of a processed food item so that items derived from a covered commodity that has undergone a physical or chemical change (e.g., cooking, curing, smoking) or that has been combined with other covered commodities or other substantive food components (e.g., chocolate, breading, tomato sauce) are excluded from COOL labeling.

RECALLED MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer announced beginning in August, USDA will begin listing on its web site a list of retail stores receiving meat and poultry products involved in Class I recalls - those of the most serious concern to public health.

“The identity of retail stores with recalled meat and poultry from their suppliers has always been a missing piece of information for the public during a recall," said Schafer. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local store and by providing lists of retail outlets during recalls, USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service will improve public health protection by better informing consumers."

FSIS will not identify distribution centers, institutions or restaurants, since they prepare food for immediate consumption without packaging that is identifiable or available to consumers.

FSIS LIST OF SAFE & SUITABLE INGREDIENTS UPDATE

FSIS has issued a transmittal sheet to Directive 7120.1 - Amendment 15 titled “Safe and Suitable Ingredients Used in the Production of Meat and Poultry Products”.

The transmittal issues the on-going updates to Attachment 1 for FSIS Directive 7120.1, identifying substances that have been approved in 21 CFR, for use in meat and poultry products as food additives, approved in GRAS notices and pre-market notifications, and approved in letters conveying acceptability determinations. To view the updated directive, go to http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Directives/index.asp

ASK

Question: What if the establishment receives the negative Salmonella result and releases the product when the E. coli O157:H7 result posts later as positive? Does the establishment know to wait for 2 results before releasing the product?

Answer: If product tests positive for E. coli O157:H7, the establishment as part of meeting 9 CFR 417 is responsible for the disposition of the product. As part of collecting the sample, inspection program personnel are to notify the establishment that they are collecting a sample, and the pathogens for which the Agency will sample the product. Thus, FSIS would expect the establishment to hold the product until it learns of the result for E. coli O157:H7.

ARGENTINE’S LOW-FAT BURGER

A post-graduate student at the National University of Mar del Plata, in Argentine, originally came up with the idea for the good-for-you-burger project. Noemi Zaritzky, head of Argentina's Center for Research and Development in Food Cryotechnology and her team based at the National University of La Plata, have spent the past two years developing a lean beef burger that is low-fat, low-sodium and juicy.

The scientists have taken the beef fat out of the meat and replaced it with a combination of substitutes less likely to clog arteries. Those substitutes include high oleic sunflower oil and fats from seafood rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which many studies suggest benefit cardiovascular health. They also added phytosterols to the mix -- a byproduct of soybeans that can lower the body's cholesterol absorption.

Washington Post 7/15

FOOD DEFENSE PLAN, BE READY!

FSIS is conducting a third Food Defense survey through the Performance-Based Inspection System (PBIS) beginning August 1, 2008. FSIS is scheduling this survey to run for thirty days for inspection program personnel to gather data about an establishment’s food defense plan. The survey data provides the Agency with information on the status of voluntary adoption of food defense plans by establishments. The August 2006 survey results established a 27% adoption rate. The November 2007 survey showed a small increase to a 31% adoption rate. FSIS expects that at least 90% of establishments will adopt functional food defense plans. If this goal is not achieved in the near future, the Agency will consider moving forward with rulemaking to mandate functional food defense plans.

There is no regulatory requirement for an establishment to develop a functional food defense plan; however, FSIS strongly encourages establishments to create and maintain one to minimize the risks of intentional contamination to food products. In addition, the business advantage for an establishment in having a functional food defense plan is that it will contribute to the protection of consumer health, provide additional process control in the establishment, and expedite the establishment’s response to situation in.

A complete list of survey questions and guidance material for developing a food defense plan is available on the FSIS Web site at www.fsis.usda.gov/Food_Defense_&_Emergency_Response/Guidance_Materials/index.asp

Food Safety Inspection Podcasts
The Office of Food Defense and Emergency Response are currently offering a series of Food Defense pod casts. Food Safety Videos also offer a collection of streaming video and audio resources for food defense and meat, poultry and processed egg product inspection. More information on this is available at www.fsis.usda.gov.

BENEFIT FOR SEMA MEMBERS

Mark Sheffield of Insurance Office of America is offering a free insurance review for SEMA members to include property, general liability, automobile and workers compensation with special emphasis on property coverage.

Mark says one of the main areas for concern is how the property needs to be written because most SEMA members have to perform their processing operation in a controlled temperature environment. If their temperature drops, their production stops. This requires endorsements well beyond the normal property policy and should include the breakdown of utilities to their facility should they not have direct damage to their location. An important consideration should also be given to the equipment that it takes to run their operations and what happens if that equipment (refrigeration, air tools, grinders, conveyer, computer, etc) fails or has internal damage. The equipment coverage should be structured so that if it breaks down and production is lost for any significant time that the insurance would respond. On the general liability, several carriers now add restrictive coverage when dealing with certain meat products. For instance, in the beef industry, the exclusion of “mad cow” on the liability policy.

Mark has 20 years of commercial insurance experience including claims and has been very active with agriculture and food processing accounts for many years. You can learn more about Insurance Office of America by visiting their web site, www.IOAUSA.com. If you would like to take Mark up on his offer, he can be reached at 813.637.8877 ext. 2542 or by e-mailing mark.sheffield@ioausa.com.

REGULATORY EDUCATION SESSION

Small and very small plant owners and operators are invited to join FSIS inspection personnel at regulatory education sessions. The workshops will include a walk-through of a variety of topics, which may include HACCP, Sanitation Performance Standards, Sanitation SOPs, Rules of Practice, Food Defense strategies, E. coli 0157:H7 workshops. To register call 800.336.3747 or for online registration forms and information about upcoming sessions go to: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/index.asp.

Jackson, MS
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm Holiday Inn Express Jackson-Coliseum/Downtown

Atlanta, GA
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Sheraton Atlanta Hotel

Raleigh, NC
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm Holiday Inn Crabtree Valley

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Things to Ponder . . . . . . . . .
No piece of paper can be folded
in half more than seven (7) times

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

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