WILL MORE BAD RAP ON THE FOOD PROCESSORS MAKE THEM SAFER/PRODUCE A GOOD PRODUCT ? *****STRICT RULES COMING SOON*****
Paper: Citations Don't Close Plants
Saturday, January 17, 1998; 4:21 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Meat and poultry plants almost
always were allowed to continue operating even after federal
inspectors issued multiple citations for serious violations of
sanitation and contamination rules, a published report says.
Cox Newspapers, in a story for Sunday's editions, said a
computer database of 1996 Agriculture Department inspection
records, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act,
showed 138,593 ''critical'' citations. Those are infractions
considered certain to sicken consumers if the food were to
have been distributed.
While most of the nation's 6,400 processing plants had only a
handful of violations, 299 had 100 or more critical citations,
and seven plants topped 1,000 or more, the records showed.
The precise nature of the violations was not detailed, but they
can include such infractions as bacterial contamination and sale
of carcasses that were dropped on the floor.
A Tyson Foods Inc. plant in Waldron, Ark., that the
Agriculture Department shut down last week was permitted to
continue operating through 1996 despite 1,753 critical
violations, the nation's worst record. In 1997, the Waldron
plant had 4,100 violations, but not all were critical, department
officials said.
There was no estimate of how often unsafe products from
these plants reach consumers. A top department official said
Friday the citations are aimed at preventing that from
happening by getting rid of any bad product and stopping
individual production lines until problems are fixed.
''This is an indication that the inspectors were doing their
jobs,'' said Thomas J. Billy, administrator of the Food Safety
and Inspection Service.
In addition, rules in effect in 1996 essentially prevented the
department from shutting down a plant unless evidence of a
crime was found, Billy said. Under new rules, the number of
plant closures rose from six in 1996 to 20 last year.
He added that the repeated violations demonstrate a need for
the new meat and poultry inspection system taking effect Jan.
26 for the largest plants. It will be phased in for smaller
processors through 2000.
Under the new regime, plants identify points where
contamination is most likely and must keep detailed records of
chronic production problems for inspectors to examine.
''If we document a pattern of failures in your system, that now
forms the basis for withdrawal of inspection,'' Billy said.
Some critics say plants' operating despite repeated violations in
the past raises misgivings about the industry's commitment to
safety under the new system.
''If the plants aren't cleaning up these basic problems, why
should we expect them to act any faster if the messenger is a
plant employee rather than a government inspector who
theoretically has the power to shut them down?'' said Caroline
Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science
in the Public Interest.
******This is the type of interest that will eventually force one and all to use all available alternatives to more safer and cleaner food products *******
Regards
Sri. |
