Safe Food_ Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism - Marion Nestle [55]
USDA’s historical reluctance to change its inspection and pathogen control systems derives directly from the agency’s conflicting mandates: to ensure the safety and quality of foods under its jurisdiction and, at the same time, to promote their marketing and consumption. The long-term collusion between the department and the meat industry impedes progress. Over the years, the breakdown of the agricultural establishment, the emergence of new food pathogens like E. coli O157:H7, and the appointment of USDA officials interested in the health effects (as well as the economic effects) of agricultural products, paved the way for more vigorous efforts to institute HACCP with performance standards for controlling pathogens.
In the 20 years between 1974 and 1994, resistance to HACCP with pathogen reduction came from many sources: federal agencies unwilling to confront powerful constituents, industry groups willing to accept HACCP only without government oversight (especially of pathogen levels), consumer groups suspicious of the industry’s commitment to safety standards and the government’s ability to enforce them, and inspectors unwilling to change the nature of their work. By 1994, advocates feared that more lives of children would need to be sacrificed before Congress, the USDA, and the industry would take action to keep dangerous bacteria out of meat. Even the threat of financial liability did not seem severe enough to induce industry action. The institution of HACCP rules appeared inevitable to all but the most determined segments of the meat industry, but whether the rules would include requirements for pathogen performance standards and testing remained open for debate. Chapter 3 explains how that debate developed.
CHAPTER 3
ATTEMPTING CONTROL OF FOOD PATHOGENS, 1994–2002
DESPITE THE BARRIERS DISCUSSED IN CHAPTER 2 AND THE objections raised by businesses likely to be affected by the new regulations, government agencies were eventually able to institute HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) systems designed to prevent harmful microbes from getting into food. This chapter describes how that happened, mainly with respect to HACCP controls for beef. Beef industry protests were more vehement and often more effective than those of other industries, and interactions of beef trade associations with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and with Congress left more visible traces. Because most outbreaks of microbial illness derive from foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this chapter also explains how the FDA tried to require the industries under its jurisdiction to institute HACCP plans, how those industries opposed the plans, and how that agency’s systems—once in place—operated in practice. Opponents of HACCP often framed their objections in scientific terms: because cooking kills most food microbes, government intervention is unnecessary. When outbreaks did occur, food producers, processors, and retailers accused each other of causing them, and all blamed government inspectors and consumers. We will see that food companies were not alone in their objections to HACCP requirements. Meat inspectors opposed the new regulations because HAACP changed their work from examining animals to examining paper. In addition, some food safety advocates agreed with the inspectors’ contention that HACCP gave too much control of production to industry and allowed foxes to guard chickens, as it were.
To gain some insight into the basis of this conflict, I wanted to observe a HACCP system in action. Shortly after the USDA’s final HACCP rules for meat went into effect in the late 1990s, the owner of a meatpacking plant in New York State agreed to let me visit as long as I did not identify the plant by name.
His company cooks meats under HACCP plans similar to the USDA model illustrated in figure 5 (page 69), and his plant illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of HACCP systems. Production practices followed the prescribed plan to the letter (a strength), but HACCP plans require mountains of