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By Root 1186 0

USDA inspectors also opposed the regulations. They had experienced a huge increase in “tasks not performed” just since the year before, meaning that their workloads had increased to the point where they could not complete assignments. One inspector, for example, complained that he was supposed to inspect 16 meat plants within a six-hour period. Once HACCP went into effect, workloads would be reduced (a benefit), but the inspectors did not like the idea that their jobs would change from inspecting animals and meat products—useless for preventing microbial contamination as that might be—to inspecting paperwork. The on-site USDA inspector at the meatpacking plant I visited, thoroughly disenchanted with having to deal with that paperwork, was counting the days until he could retire. Old-time inspectors quipped that because HACCP minimizes risk but can never assure absolute safety, its initials really should stand for “Have a Cup of Coffee and Pray.”19

The General Accounting Office (GAO), however, continued to press for HACCP, also invoking science as the rationale. For years it had been issuing reports urging Congress to require oversight of food safety based on science (meaning assessment of hazards at critical points and evaluation by microbial testing) rather than sensory perception (poke-and-sniff). GAO officials complained that federal agencies repeatedly ignored their warnings and were still inspecting foods by obsolete systems that could not possibly address modern microbial hazards.20

In the case of meat and poultry regulation, reason eventually won out over politics, the benefits of HACCP prevailed, and the USDA issued its final set of regulations in July 1996—an election year in which the political climate had shifted to one more friendly to consumer interests. Perhaps as a sign of that change, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which typically opposed expansion of government regulations, praised the new rules: “For years, we have had the Government doing the work, the inspectors in the plants, and you hear stories of cursory checks and that’s it. . . . This is an attempt to get away from Government micromanaging the process and instead saying to the regulated entity, ‘you figure out how to do it, you’re responsible, and we’ll do some testing to make sure there are performance standards.’ ”21

An alternative reason for the OMB’s blessing may have been financial. USDA economists calculated that the economic benefits of Pathogen Reduction: HACCP would outweigh its costs even under the most conservative estimates. Although the new rules were expected to cost industry more than a billion dollars over a 20-year period, the economic benefits to society would exceed that amount even if just 5% of foodborne illnesses could be prevented. Economists thought that if HACCP could achieve a 90% reduction in illnesses caused by just the six most common food pathogens, the 20-year savings in medical costs and lost productivity would be $170 billion or more.22 Furthermore, the meat and poultry industries would share financial benefits in the form of reduced recalls and liability, enhanced consumer confidence, and robust sales.

By mid-1996, the HACCP schedule was in place. The E. coli O157:H7 testing of ground meat proposed in 1994 was due to start in January 1997. Large companies were to install Pathogen Reduction: HACCP plans by January 1998, and smaller companies by January 2000. From then on, all meat and poultry companies were to follow such plans and test for generic E. coli, endure USDA testing of ground meat for E. coli O157:H7 and spot-checking for Salmonella, and meet performance standards for pathogen reduction. Food safety would depend on how carefully they designed and implemented the plans, and how well the USDA enforced them. For most foods regulated by the FDA, however, HACCP remained voluntary. As we will now see, events soon revealed serious gaps in the regulations, and indicated additional needs: for extension of HACCP rules to all food products at all stages of production, for federal authority