SEMA_________________________________

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

E. coli O157:H7 Testing In Raw Ground Beef

Notice 44-09 cancels and reissues the content of Notice 18-09 which includes provisions for an establishment to request that more than 2 samples be taken by inspection program personnel (IPP) in one day. This reissued notice also clarifies that any establishment may have written procedures to grind a minimum batch of product that represents the entire lot in a smaller grinder. IPP may receive FSIS Form 10,210-3, Requested Sample Programs, for E. coli O157:H7 sampling and testing of raw ground beef products (MT43) at the following monthly rates:

• Up to 4 times within a calendar month (see block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of greater than 250,000 lbs/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.
• Up to 3 times within a calendar month (see block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of 50,000 to 250,000 lbs/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.
• Up to 2 times within a calendar month (see block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of 1,000 to 50,000 lbs/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.
• Generally, no more than once within a calendar month (see block 4 of FSIS form 10,210-3) for establishments with ground beef product production volumes of less than 1,000 lbs/day, as estimated and recorded in block 28 of FSIS Form 10,210-3 each time a sample is collected.

SEMA Partners with 18 Groups on E. coli O157:H7 Conference for North American Beef Further Processors

The Southeast Meat Association (SEMA) is partnering with other organizations and trade media to host a conference on the prevention of E. coli O157:H7 on August 18-19. The conference at the Four Points by Sheraton Chicago O’Hare Airport will bring together experts from academia, government, and industry to discuss the requirements, options, and technologies to control E. coli O157:H7. The conference is designed for processors who produce ground beef, mechanically tenderized steaks and other non-intact beef products.

The conference features a technical session on microbiological testing and interventions on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 18. Simultaneous English-Spanish translation will be provided for the entire conference if needed.

Register now to take advantage of the early registration discount. Until July 17, the registration fee for the two-day conference is US$449 for members of SEMA and the partner organizations, and US$549 for non-members.

For more information and program details, go to www.NAMP.com, or call toll-free at +1 800.368.3043 ext. 103.

Creating a Strong Safety Culture

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), developing a strong safety culture has the single greatest impact on accident reduction of any workplace practice. It is for this reason that developing a safety culture should be a top priority for all managers and supervisors at every organization.

Safety Cultures Dissected
A safety culture consists of shared beliefs, practices and attitudes that exist at an organization, and form an atmosphere of beliefs and attitudes which shape behavior. An organization’s safety culture is a direct result of the following factors:

• Management and employee norms, assumptions and beliefs
• Management and employee attitudes
• Values, myths and stories
• Policies and procedures
• Supervisor priorities, responsibilities and accountability
• Production and bottom line pressure versus quality issues
• Actions or lack thereof to correct unsafe behaviors
• Employee training and motivation.
• Employee involvement and “buy-in” in the process.

Generally, a company’s safety culture is a direct reflection of the organization’s overarching culture and the people who work in it. As a result, most employees will generate their perceptions of safety and its importance based on the attitude their employer projects.

The following are four main types of safety cultures held by U.S. companies:

1. Forced Culture
A company with a forced safety culture uses bribes and threats as a way to motivate employees to keep safety at top of mind. Health and safety officers at these organizations are seen as police-like because of their constant need to enforce codes and rules. In addition, employees view these individuals as solely in existence to catch them doing unsafe acts and to punish them. In these cultures, the employees’ fear of being punished is so overwhelming that their performance lacks, which also does not produce an enjoyable working environment.

2. Protective Culture
A company with a protective safety culture prescribes a substantial amount of rules and regulations onto their employees. If an employee were to violate one of the rules, this may prompt management to create more rules. This ultimately creates confusion, as there are too many regulating factors in place.

3. Involved Culture
A company with an involved safety culture provides an abundance of safety training for employees, with the exception of top management officials. Though morale is higher at organizations with involved cultures because safety officers are not constantly policing employee actions, they also run the risk of not being as safe as they could potentially be. Management should be integrated into the safety culture to make it flourish.

4. Integral Culture
A company with an integral safety culture also provides an abundance of safety training for employees and they are attended by individuals at all pay scales. In these organizations, safety officers have budgets and authority, and enforce rules when appropriate.
In a strong, successful safety culture (the Integral Culture model), everyone feels responsible for safety and pursues it on a daily basis by going beyond the “call of duty” to identify unsafe conditions and behaviors, and to intervene to correct them. In addition, coworkers look out for one another and point out unsafe behaviors to each other. As a result, a company with a strong safety culture typically experiences few at-risk behaviors, and consequently experiences lower accident rates, lower turn-over rates, lower absenteeism and higher productivity. Overall, they are companies who are extremely successful because they excel in all aspects of business.

Promoting a Safety Culture at Your Organization

• Develop a site safety vision including key policies, goals, measures and strategic and operational plans.
• Implement a “buddy system” in which experienced individuals are paired up with newer workers. The experienced workers can serve as role models for newer workers and can demonstrate proper safe work procedures.
• Encourage all employees to watch out for others. In doing so, develop safety responsibilities for all levels of the organization.
• Align management and supervisors by establishing a shared vision of safety and health goals, and objectives versus production.
• Implement a process that holds management accountable for visibly being involved, setting the proper example and leading a positive change for safety and health.
• Management should make themselves available during worker orientation and introduction sessions.
• The organization should demonstrate a commitment to employee health and safety by implementing safe work practices and prescribing the mentality that unsafe actions are not tolerated.
• Make health and safety part of workplace communications.
• Encourage workers to report health and safety concerns that they may encounter and respond to concerns in a timely fashion. Also provide multiple paths for employees to bring suggestions, concerns and problems forward.
• Develop a system for tracking and ensuring the timeliness of hazard corrections.
• Ensure that the organization has a system for reporting near-miss accidents, injuries and the need for first aid.
• Promote safety training sessions and host emergency response training.
• Maintain safety equipment and ensure that it is worn properly by employees.
• Revise incentives and disciplinary systems to accommodate safety and health concerns.

Creating an effective safety culture is an integral part of your loss control efforts. Article contributed by Cory Broadaway, V.P. at J. Rolfe Davis Insurance. You can contact Cory at 800-896-0554 for more assistance with all your employee safety and insurance needs.

5 Things Most of Us Never Knew Our Cell Phones Could Do

For all the folks with cell phones. (Good information to have with you.)
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.
Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND
Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. This could save someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!'

THIRD: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys: *3370#.
Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.

FOURTH: How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone:
*# 06#.
A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.
When your phone have been stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this
code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

FIFTH: Free Directory Service for Cells
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial:
(800)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

Cell Phone Incoming Sales Calls.
Cell phone telephone numbers have been released to telemarketing companies. YOU MAY BE CHARED FOR THESE INCOMING CALLS.
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone 1-888-382-1222, the National DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute and will block your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

Article provided by: Pat Burfitt @ Citizens Financial Partners (407) 366-5151

FSIS-ASK: Certificate of Analysis (COA) or Purchase Specifications

Question: For establishments that have concluded that E. coli O157:H7 is not reasonably likely to occur because they have purchase specifications that address E. coli O157:H7, is it a regulatory requirement that incoming shipments of raw beef products be accompanied by both a letter of guarantee and the actual COA, including the method used for sampling from the supplier, or will a letter of guarantee be sufficient?

Answer: No, there are no prescriptive regulatory requirements for prerequisite programs. Establishments need adequate documentation to support that E. coli O157:H7 is not reasonably likely to occur in their production process. As is stated in Section III, D of FSIS Notice 05-09, FSIS would expect to see adequate support for the effectiveness of purchase specifications in a prerequisite program, which may include:

1. A document (e.g., letter of guarantee) from each supplier that provides assurance that the supplier employs CCPs that address E. coli O157:H7 and describes those interventions. It would be very important to know whether the CCP intervention was applied during the slaughter pre-chill versus post-chill because further processing during post-chill may introduce or redistribute contamination on the product's surface;
2. Certificates of analysis (COAs) (i.e. actual test results) and the sampling method used (e.g. N=60) by the supplier. It is important to know the COA represents the specific production lot received at the establishment; and
3. Records (e.g. the receiving establishment's own testing results, ongoing communication with suppliers, or third party audits) or other evidence that demonstrates that the receiving establishment is executing its program to obtain from suppliers the documentation described in number 1 above and the test results described in number 2. If the receiving establishment cannot obtain such documentation or test results, it would be best for the establishment to review the other mechanisms for controlling the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in Section III, F, 1, 2, and 3 of Notice 05-09.

If establishments receive documentation (e.g., letters of guarantee) or COAs and testing information from suppliers to verify that their purchase specifications continue to prevent E. coli O157:H7 from contaminating their products, receiving establishments need to determine the necessary frequency at which they obtain such documentation. An establishment is not adequately ensuring that its HACCP plan is functioning effectively if it is not assessing the on-going effectiveness of a prerequisite program on which its hazard analysis rests. Given this fact, a prerequisite program involving an annual letter of guarantee and an annual third party audit, would not be adequate because the prerequisite program does not include any provision for meaningful on-going verification. Given the sporadic, low-level occurrence of E. coli O157:H7, frequent verification is necessary to provide assurance that the presence of this pathogen is being successfully prevented by the prerequisite program. If an establishment receives COAs for each lot, it may be able to support an annual letter of guarantee to verify that the supplier employs adequate controls for E. coli O157:H7.

Last week, FSIS posted a number of Q&A’s dealing with Notice 05-09 and consideration of E. coli O157:H7 during the hazard analysis. AskFSIS is a searchable website designed to help answer policy-related questions on topics such as exporting, labeling, inspection, programs and procedures.

USDA is preparing to release new regulatory requirements regarding HACCP Plan Validation before the end of the year. Plants will have to have more specific HACCP Plan Validation with internal plant validation and external validation sources.

News from Jeff Chilton, Chilton Consulting Group

Reviewing and Updating Establishment Profile Processing Tab Prior to Completing the Survey for “Raw Comminuted” Poultry

This notice cancels FSIS Notice 30-09, Survey for Ground Poultry Production dated 4/16/09. The notice is being revised to clarify what the Inspector-in-charge (IIC) needs to do to respond to the survey. Specifically, the notice now provides additional information about how the IIC is to review and update the Establishment Profile Processing Tab regarding all raw comminuted, ground, or mechanically separated poultry produced at the establishment to which the IIC is assigned. To read in its entirety click on, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/46-09.pdf

SEMA Member News

W.J. Hunt (82yrs) of Food Processing Company passed away in June. Mr. Hunt had been a long time member and supporter of SEMA. Condolences may be sent to his wife Rose at 2708 NE 21st Way Gainesville, FL 32609-3331.

Chilton Consulting: Jeff Chilton’s e mail address has changed to chilton@chiltonconsulting.com. The former email address of chilton@alltel.net will no longer work due to Windstream’s acquisition of Alltel.

Wolfson Casing: Karla Weiszer has changed her e-mail to kweiszer@comcast.net.

WELCOME NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

L.K. White & Associates Inc is a complete food and meat packaging product company. They specialize in meat and fish packaging with a complete size selection of pouches, shrink bags, tray sealing lading, skin packaging and forming and non-forming roll stock film. L.K. White & Assoc. has been in business over 30 years as manufacturer reps. Contact Tom Snyder at 404.683.6993

Golden Eagle Extrusions, Inc. has been a supplier of flexible packaging solutions to the food industry for over thirty years. Their products are specific to the meat industry an include forming and top web films, laminated and coextruded pouches, shrink bags and lidding films, both printed and unprinted, for hand pack, horizontal and vertical form and fill packaging. Contact Jim Potts at 404.816.2360.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS