SEMA_________________________________
SOUTHEASTERN MEAT ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 620777; Oviedo, FL 32762 Phone: 407-365-5661
JUNE 2003 VOLUME
18, No. 6
SPECIAL FOOD IRRADIATION REPORT
USDA Undersecretary Elsa Murano said the expense of installing new irradiation
equipment at meat plants is a primary reason more packers and processors
have yet to embrace the technology. It is believed that less than 5% of
meat is irradiated.
A central irradiation location, said Murano, would be more cost effective.
Murano said irradiation is the most effective single technology to kill
contaminants, but stressed irradiation should not be seen as a substitute
for proper food handling, processing, cooking and sanitation methods.
The 2002 Farm Bill allows irradiated meat to be included in the national
school lunch program.
FDA ISSUES FINAL TWO PROPOSED FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS
U.S. Food and Drug Administration published the final two food safety
proposed regulations required by the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism
Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, which gave FDA new authority to
protect the nation’s food supply.
These two proposals deal with establishing and maintaining records among
food firms and the administrative detention of foods that may pose a risk
to public health.
Under the proposed rule, manufacturers, processors, packers, distributors,
receivers, holders and importers of food would be required to keep records
identifying the immediate source from which they received the food, as
well as, the immediate subsequent recipient, to whom they sent it. This
requirement would apply to almost all foreign and domestic food sources
and almost all recipients of food destined for consumption in the United
States.
The other proposed regulation on administrative detention implements
FDA’s new authority to detain any article of food for which there
is credible evidence that the article poses a threat of serious adverse
health consequences or death.
USDA GROUND BEEF PURCHASE REQUIREMENTS
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has added a product specification
for ground beef items purchased for the National School Lunch and other
federal food and nutrition programs. Under the new specification, testing
will be extended to raw materials at slaughter and deboning facilities,
including trim. The new specification will also set an average fat content
level of 15 percent for ground beef items, except for lean ground beef
patties that will remain at 10 percent.
Complete details of the new specifications can be found at: www.ams.usda.gov
HACCP IMPLEMENTATION COSTS 7 TIMES HIGHER THAN ESTIMATED
A recent USDA analysis of food safety regulation estimates the cost
of implementing a HACCP program is about 1 percent of a plant’s
total production costs, a seven-fold increase over what original cost
estimates were when HAACP legislation first passed in 1996.
HARKIN CRITICIZES INDUSTRY
“Basic food safety standards are on life support,” says
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). He has reintroduced a bill that would give
USDA the authority to enforce existing performance standards and require
the agency to set standards for other foodborne pathogens.
The Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act of 2003,
otherwise known as Kevin’s Law, would basically require USDA to:
- Develop a list of foodborne pathogens that most affect public health
within 60 days of enactment
- Conduct surveys to find out the current levels and incidence of these
pathogens on raw meat and poultry products
- Determine pathogen reduction performance standards to ensure that
the lowest level of contamination that is reasonably achievable, while
taking into account the performance of the top quartile of meat processing
plants
- Propose performance standards for at least two pathogens within three
years of enactment, then issue one performance standard a year for each
additional pathogen
- Shut down a plant that fails to meet a performance standard and fails
to develop a plan of corrective action to comply with the standard.
BEEF ADS PUT POULTRY INDUSTRY IN FOWL MOOD
Chicken producers are griping over a new advertising campaign sponsored
by National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). NCBA’s excellent
beef promotion does make some very good points.
Six of beef’s leanest cuts have, on average, just one more gram
of saturated fat but eight times more vitamin B12, six times more zinc
and three times more iron than chicken’s leanest cut: the skinless
chicken breast, the ads claim. “We’re not saying, ‘don’t
eat chicken.’ We are saying that you can feel good about eating
lean beef,” said Mark Thomas, vice president consumer marketing,
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
POLITICIANS, ACTIVISTS SLAM CANADA FOR BSE TESTING DELAY
Canadian health officials are being criticized for the 14-week lapse
from the January 31 slaughter of an 8-year-old cow condemned because of
suspected pneumonia until the May 20 announcement that the animal was
infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. Canadian
officials are building a case to end the U.S. ban on Canadian beef. Brian
Evans, Chief Veterinary Official of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,
said he feels the U.S. will lift the ban when the testing is completed
and it satisfies regulatory authorities around the world.
The infected cow was slaughtered January 31 but kept out of the food
chain because it was believed to have pneumonia, officials said. Testing
was delayed several months because there was no suspicion of BSE, as well
as a backlog of higher priority cases, officials said.
USDA is placing Canada under its BSE restriction guidelines and will
not accept any ruminants or ruminant products from Canada pending further
investigation. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman stated that the risk
to human health and the possibility of transmission to animals in the
United States is extremely low.
Canadian investigators removed all of the cattle from one Alberta farm
and were destroying the herd to examine the brains for further possible
cases of BSE.
Some U.S. legislators have criticized the delay in testing and called
for guarantees of improvement before reopening the U.S. market, which
consumes more than 70 percent of Canada’s beef product exports.
As to the safety of the nation’s beef supply, BSE
has NOT been found in the United Sates, and no cases of BSE have ever
been confirmed in the United States within 12 years of active surveillance.
Harvard University published a landmark three-year risk analysis on BSE.
This detailed assessment showed that the occurrence of BSE in the United
States is highly unlikely. USDA has more than tripled the number of cattle
it tested for BSE during the last fiscal year.
FLEXIBILITY IN RECIPES
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending its regulations
to permit the use of any safe and suitable binder or antimicrobial agent
in the production of meat and poultry products that are subject to a standard
of identity or composition that provides for the use of such ingredients.
The use of these ingredients must be consistent with any limitations or
conditions of use prescribed in applicable FSIS or Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) regulations. This direct final rule will provide establishments
with greater flexibility in formulating meat and poultry products.
GROUP LAUNCHES CERTIFIED HUMANE HANDLING, LABELING PROGRAM
Humane Farm Animal Care, an independent nonprofit organization in Herndon,
Virginia, supported by many of the nation’s leading animal rights
organizations, unveiled its “certified humane raised and handled”
labeling and certification program. Food items that carry the label are
certified to have come from facilities that meet precise, objective standards
for farm animal treatment. A team of veterinarians and animal scientists
developed the Animal Care Standards to ensure that producers and processors:
keep animals in conditions that offer sufficient space, shelter, and company
of same-species animals to limit stress; protect an animal’s health
with a veterinary health and disease prevention plan; and assure good
nutrition, including ready access to fresh water and a diet that maintains
full health and vigor.
For example, the Certified Humane Raised & handled label guarantees
that egg-laying hens are cage free. Pigs are not confined in gestation
stalls and dairy cows are not tied in stalls. Downer animals, those too
sick to walk, may not be transported or used for food. Under the program,
growth hormones are prohibited, and animals are raised on a regular diet
of quality feed free of antibiotics. Producers also must comply with environmental
standards and processors must comply with the American Meat Institute
Standards. Certification is awarded only after rigorous, annual on-site
inspections. Inspectors have training and education in Animal Science,
Veterinary Medicine, or other relevant backgrounds and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Services verifies the entire
inspection and certification process. For more information about the program,
visit the web site at: www.certifiedhumane.org.
BEEF PRICES CLIMBING
Retailers and distributors are reporting strong beef sales. This, along
with the ban on Canadian beef is making the beef market strong.
THINGS TO PONDER---- The word “listen” has the same letters
as the word “silent”.
“COOL” MEETING
Public meetings are being held by USDA in different parts of the country
to have public input and provide information on Country of Origin Labeling
Law (COOL). A meeting was held in Orlando, Florida on May 14, headed by
Bill Hawks, Under Secretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs and the
response was overwhelming. The overflow of people was sent into another
room and out in the lobby to watch by way of television. “COOL”
is to go into effect September of 2004. This is to be a farm-to-table
tracking system. It will only affect retail sales, foodservice is being
excluded along with poultry products. It was pointed out in the meeting
that this will not benefit livestock producers, as processors will use
U.S. beef for retail and use imported for foodservice. AMI Vice President
of Regulatory Affairs, Mark Dopp stated, “there are still a lot
of questions to be answered and time is running out”. He also said,
“moreover, the labeling law will require different labels on meat,
which may be derived from animals born in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.—even
though all three animals may be slaughtered within minutes of each other
at the same plant in Nebraska, under the supervision of the same USDA
inspector and in compliance with the same regulatory criteria.”
For more information to: www.ams.usda.gov/cool/
PREMIUM STANDARD FARMS STARTS “COOL” PROGRAM
Premium Standard Farms will have its’ COOL program ready for retailers
by July 1. USDA has approved the source verification element of Premium
Standard Farms Process Verified Program as meeting the origin verification
provision of the COOL guidelines. PSF will be the first meat company to
have products with the requirements of COOL.
COMPANIES, LIKE PEOPLE, HAVE A LIFE CYCLE
The five major states include:
- Conceptualization and new-venture development phase.
- Start-up and survival phase.
- Growth phase
- Maturity or stabilization phase.
- Decline or transformation phase.
SEMA WEBSITE
The SEMA website had 960 unique visitors in April. That is a 10 percent
increase over March. Through referring sites, we get most visitors from
the AAMP website. Our most accessed pages were the home page and the classified
ads page.
SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE
SEMA Treasurer Adam Chernin of Central Beef attended the University
of Florida Scholarship Reception April 18. At that time, Adam met the
2003 SEMA Scholarship recipient. The University also recognized SEMA as
giving a $1,000 scholarship.
MEMBER UPDATE
We received a note on the status of Art Edwards from A.J. Edwards. He
is working hard at his therapies which include cleaning his desk and going
through some paperwork. He is very anxious to get back in the saddle.
SEMA CONVENTION
Reminder: The SEMA Convention is coming up June 13-15 at the Savannah
Marriott. Be sure to attend and hear all of our guest speakers and visit
the exhibitors. For Information contact: Anna Ondick at 407-365-5661 or
email at: anna_ondick@earthlink.net.
WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS
Bari Italian Foods – Marty Krutchik, Production
Manager
3875 Bengert Street
Orlando, FL 32808
Phone No. 407.298.0560
Fax No. 407.293.2032
E-mail: martinlk1@aol.com
Swaggerty Sausage Co., Inc. – Kyle L. Swaggerty,
President
2827 Swaggerty Road
Kodak, TN 37764
Phone No. 865.933.2625
Fax No. 865.933.7796
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