E. coli loophole cited in recalls
Tainted meat can be sold if cooked
By Stephen J. Hedges | Washington Bureau
November 11, 2007
Article tools
E-mail Share
Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print
Single page view Reprints Text size: WASHINGTON - One federal
inspector calls it the "E. coli loophole." Another says, "Nobody would
buy it if they knew."

The officials are referring to the little-discussed fact that the U.S.
Department of Agriculture has deemed it acceptable for meat companies
to cook and sell meat on which E. coli, a bacterium that can sicken
and even kill humans, is found during processing.

The "E. coli loophole" affects millions of pounds of beef each year
that tests positive for the presence of E. coli O157:H7, a
particularly virulent strain of the bacterium.

The agency allows companies to put this E. coli-positive meat in a
special category -- "cook only." Cooking the meat, the USDA and
producers say, destroys the bacteria and makes it safe to eat as
precooked hamburgers, meat loaf, crumbled taco meat and other
products.

But some USDA inspectors say the "cook only" practice means that
higher-than-appropriate levels of E. coli are tolerated in packing
plants, raising the chance that clean meat will become contaminated.
They say the "cook only" practice is part of the reason for this
year's sudden rise in incidents of E. coli contamination.

"All the product that is E. coli positive, they put a 'cooking only'
tag on it," said one inspector, who like other federal inspectors
interviewed asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs.
"They [companies] will test, and everything that's positive, they slap
that label on."

There is no evidence that "cook only" meat has directly sickened
consumers. But some inspectors contend that the practice conceals
significantly higher levels of E. coli bacteria in packing plants than
the companies admit to. That's because companies that find E. coli are
allowed to shift that meat immediately into "cook only" lines, without
reporting it to the USDA.

USDA regularly tests for E. coli in slaughtering plants, but only on
meat that packing companies have already deemed free of E. coli, the
agency inspectors say. USDA officials say they do not track how much
meat is put into "cook only" categories, but interviews with a half-
dozen inspectors suggested it is a significant amount.

"The government keeps putting out that we've reduced E. coli by 50
percent and all of that," said an inspector. "And we haven't done
nothing. We've just covered it up."

USDA denied this. In answers to written questions from the Tribune,
department officials said USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service
"collects its own random samples without waiting for test results from
the plant."

Meat industry representatives and the USDA also said there is no risk
from beef that is fully cooked, because cooking meat above 160 degrees
Fahrenheit kills pathogens such as E. coli. Meat companies also said
they have taken significant steps to eliminate E. coli in meat during
the slaughtering process, including lactic acid washes of carcasses
and steam treatments in which carcasses are heated to kill the
bacteria.

Meat found with E. coli, they said, isn't worth as much.

"If raw ground beef has to go into a 'cook only' category, it loses
value," said Randall Huffman, senior vice president for scientific
affairs at the American Meat Institute, an industry group. "There's
not as big a market for that."

Most of the major meatpacking companies offer their own cooked meat
products, such as meat loaf, precooked hamburgers and taco meat
crumbles. They also sell "cook only" meat to food processing
companies.

School lunches

Some cooked beef products end up in the National School Lunch Program,
which is administered by the USDA.

The agency bought 2.8 million pounds of cooked beef in 2006, according
to USDA records.

USDA said in a statement that "procurement of ground beef and certain
other products for distribution through the National School Lunch
Program is governed by additional quality requirements," such as
mandatory microbiological testing.

School lunch programs have increased the use of cooked beef in recent
years, especially hamburger patties and taco meat, as a way to prevent
E. coli poisoning from undercooked beef, according to Jeannie Sneed, a
food service consultant formerly at Iowa State University.

But Sneed said she and most school lunch program managers did not know
that the cooked beef they use in school lunches could have come from
cattle contaminated with E. coli.

"I did not know that's a common practice," she said. "Most people are
probably not aware that it occurs. But it probably does not create a
great amount of concern because if meat is cooked at a little less
than 155 degrees, the E. coli is killed."

Regarding the safety of cooked beef, USDA said it "does collect and
sample some cooked, ready-to-eat products for E. coli O157:H7."

E. coli can be difficult to detect and prevent. The bacterium lives in
intestines of cattle, which tolerate it. It can contaminate meat
during the slaughter process if fecal matter comes in contact with the
meat portions of a carcass. That can happen in several ways, such as
when workers accidentally puncture the digestive tract during removal,
or when a cow's hide, which might carry fecal dust, is taken off.

In humans, E. coli poisoning can cause severe stomach cramps, bloody
urine and diarrhea, kidney failure and even death.

The American meat industry is bewildered by this year's increased
findings of E. coli contamination. Theories about the causes range
from dry conditions in cattle feedlots, where cattle stand in manure,
to changes in feed caused by high corn prices.

Whatever the reason, the result has been sick consumers. The largest
recall so far this year involved the Topps Meat Co. of Elizabeth,
N.J., which went out of business after it recalled 21.7 million pounds
of ground beef due to E. coli contamination. About 40 people fell ill
from Topps meat.

More recently, Cargill, the Minneapolis-based grain and foods giant,
has recalled nearly 2 million pounds of ground beef due to E. coli
concerns. And more than 3 million pounds of General Mills' Totino's
and Jeno's pizzas have been recalled because of E. coli in pepperoni.

The inspectors interviewed for this story contended that the E. coli
increase is due to the methods used to slaughter cattle, as well as
the practice of designating affected meat "cook only."

That practice means companies can profit from meat that they would
otherwise lose. But while the practice is clearly spelled out in USDA
regulations, it is not widely publicized. "If you knew this was all E.
coli positive, would you buy that product?" asked one inspector.
"That's very hush-hush."

Industry: Not cutting corners

The U.S. meat industry produced 26.3 billion pounds of beef in 2006,
from 33.7 million cattle. Meat companies summarily reject the
inspectors' charges that corners are being cut in preventing E. coli
contamination.

Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for Tyson Foods, one of the nation's
largest beef producers, said his company has developed a special
testing program, called Tyson Total N60, to detect E. coli. The
program is so effective, Mickelson said, that other companies now use
it.

"Tyson tests all raw beef components we know are destined for ground
beef production," Mickelson said, adding that the program provides a
95 percent or greater assurance of finding E. coli.

Mickelson also said USDA inspectors have access to Tyson's records on
its E. coli tests.

Cargill declined to comment for this story. Another large meatpacking
firm, Swift Foods Co., did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Some inspectors said that USDA should eliminate the "cook only"
category to force companies to work harder to eliminate E. coli or
face the prospect of destroying beef that can't pass inspection.

But the American Meat Institute's Huffman said that would be a waste
of food.

"You're talking about throwing away a significant volume of product,
which to any food safety person, that doesn't make sense because the
product can still be put through a validated cooking process and be
made safe," Huffman said. "A lot of food products right now are
cooked."

USDA performed nearly 11,000 E. coli tests at 1,653 meat plants in
2005, according to the agency's inspector general. From 2004 through
2006, the agency says, 0.17 percent of ground beef samples tested
positive for E. coli.

Inspectors interviewed for this story, however, challenged the
suggestion that it's a small problem. One USDA inspector said a large
meatpacking plant where he worked produced a half-million pounds a
week of E. coli-positive beef that was tagged "cook only."

"It's a smoke screen," the inspector said. "The agency says, 'Look at
all this testing.' They [the meat companies] are still producing a
half-million pounds a week of E. coli product, and we're patting them
on their back."