A 'fecal soup' of contamination?

Consumers incensed by proposed changes in meat inspection

March 14, 1996
Web posted at: 12:50 a.m. EST

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a move that has consumer groups seeing red, the Department of Agriculture is considering dropping a plan requiring slaughter plants to test poultry and red meat for salmonella -- the major cause of sometimes-fatal food poisoning.

Adding fuel to concerns over the change, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) released a study Wednesday that describes poultry carcasses swimming in a "fecal soup" of contamination.

The CSPI, a consumer group, said chickens and turkeys are contaminated with their own feces and the contents of their intestines, which is then spread from one carcass to another.

The Agriculture Department estimates that one in four contaminated chickens contains salmonella. An estimated 2,600 people in the United States die annually from salmonella poisoning.

The department will soon release final regulations that are expected to overhaul the federal meat and poultry inspection process. The final rule is due in a few weeks.

In its first proposal, the Department of Agriculture said it would make slaughter plants test meat and poultry daily for salmonella, which shows up in 25 percent of slaughtered chickens and 5 percent of beef carcasses.

But now, the government is thinking of making the industry test only for E. coli, a harmless but common bacteria that can indicate contamination.

The CSPI says the government is backing off measures that would make beef and chicken safer.

"E. coli testing alone will give consumers and the government a mirage of safer poultry without requiring the industry to actually improve," said the center's Caroline Smith DeWaal.

But Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said the final rule will include strong protections against all harmful bacteria.

"We're going to have a complete and total inspection which will include inspection for E. coli, inspection for salmonella," he says. "It will have a pathogen reduction system which is next to none."

A poultry industry spokesperson dismissed the CSPI's charges as non-scientific, and said the upcoming Department of Agriculture rules will guarantee the safest possible product.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related Site

• United States Department of Agriculture

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