Word: usda
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...USDA chief, Espy at first resisted imposing a new set of poultry- inspection rules that would create a "zero tolerance" standard for the presence of fecal matter, which carries the organisms that make people sick. When Espy finally released an 86-page, zero-tolerance plan last July, it didn't contain a solution to the problem of dangerous bacteria. "The plan is a farce," says Edward Menning, director of the National Association of Federal Veterinarians, many of whose members work in poultry plants. "It's some spin doctor's effort to fool people...
...ensuring that poultry is safe. According to a report by the General Accounting Office, "The inspection system is only marginally better than it was 87 years ago when it was first put in place." And yet, says Representative Edolphus Towns, who chairs the House Human Resources subcommittee, the USDA blithely continues "to stamp every piece of inspected poultry with a seal of approval even if the product is crawling with deadly bacteria...
...Kenneth May, the industry trade association's chief scientist, "and there's no need to worry." Yet not everyone is a perfect chef, and not every kitchen is perfectly hygienic: everything that tainted raw chicken touches can be contaminated. As the system works now, says Gerald Kuester, a former USDA microbiologist, the "final product is no different than if you stuck it in the toilet...
Everything changed in 1978. Based on a single study now considered flawed by independent experts, the Carter Administration's USDA allowed the poultry industry to wash rather than trim chickens and also to speed up the production lines. "It was the worst decision I ever made," says Carol Tucker Foreman, then the official in charge of food safety at the USDA. "They had that study, and I was convinced the consumer would benefit from lower-cost chicken." Many studies since then have shown that washing is ineffective, even after 40 rinses. (Trimming is still required for beef, "because the meat...
...known to critics as "fecal soup": the process allows chickens to become waterlogged. Regulations allow as much as 8% of a chicken's weight to be water, which consumers pay for as if it were meat. "When it comes to chicken," says Jack Leighty, a retired director of the USDA's pathology division, "water is big business." So big, in fact, that Tyson alone would lose about $40 million in annual gross profits if the 8% rule were repealed. One study has shown that cross-contamination can be eliminated simply by placing the carcasses in sealed plastic bags during...