Cargill is piloting the use of video monitoring at its US beef plants in order to reduce the risk of E. coli and salmonella contamination.

The food giant has already trialled remote video auditing (RVA) at 10 beef-harvesting facilities in the US, and the results are said to have been “terrific”, with a higher compliance rate already identified and competition between plants over performance scores.

The system is now being introduced at the beef facility in Fresno, California. Auditors from Arrowsight Inc. will monitor on how consistently workers perform tasks in near-real time, and provide statistical feedback to management.

For the pilot, Cargill is focusing on the stages where workers clean and sanitise knives and other equipment. It will also look at dressing procedures to check proper protocol is followed.