E Coli Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark Law Firm : E. coli Blog

The safety of our leafy green food supply - mainly lettuce and spinach - has received significant attention since the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service published a request for comments regarding proposed national leafy greens handling regulations in October.  According to Michael Durando, branch chief of USDA's marketing order administrative branch, who was interviewed for an article in the Washington Post that was published yesterday, this request generated over 3,500 comments - considerably higher than the average 2-3 responses for an average issue or 100 or so comments for a "hot-button" issue. 

The Washington Post article, written by Bloomberg News reporter Cindy Skryzcki, is titled, "In a Pickle Over Self-Regulation for Produce Growers".  For the article, Ms. Skryzcki interviewed various stakeholders who will be impacted by decisions made regarding whether government or industry should regulate the growth and distribution of fresh produce.  Stakeholders include leafy greens marketing groups, farmers, and the USDA. 

Ms. Skryzcki wrote about differences of opinion in the comments that have thus far been submitted, which include viewpoints on whether all farms and processors should be required to follow the same standards and whether industry should be able to regulate itself with such agreements as marketing agreements instituted by California and Arizona leafy greens growers and handlers after the 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak instead of facing formal government regulation. 

From the article: 

The Western Growers Association said there should be no exemptions from uniform steps that growers and handlers should have to follow to certify the safety of lettuce, spinach, endive, kale, cabbage and other greens.

At a congressional hearing in May, Joseph Pezzini, an executive with Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville, Calif., and the chairman overseeing California's Leafy Green Handlers Marketing Agreement, said industry is best suited to define best practices for handling the covered vegetables.

The Consumers Union's Odabashian opposed the marketing-agreement plan in comments, saying the Agriculture Department idea isn't appropriate for addressing safety concerns. She said in an interview that the California agreement, which went into effect in July, didn't prevent two recent recalls.

While we all share the goal of reducing the incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks traced to contaminated produce, USDA faces a tough decision.

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Steve Hedges of the Chicago Tribune wrote yesterday about a loophole in the food safety system that allows E. coli-contaminated ground beef to become part of pre-cooked products destined for the frozen foods section at grocery stores and school lunches through the USDA's National School Lunch Program.  Hedges wrote that when ground beef tests positive for E. coli, it can be diverted from processing to be sold as a fresh product and put into processing to become a pre-cooked meal. 

Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors interviewed for Hedges' story believe that the amount of E. coli contamination in ground beef products has not declined nearly as much as has been touted in the last several years.  Their argument is that if a company tests ground beef, and it is positive for E. coli and shifted to a "cook only" line, USDA testing is not performed on the product.  That means that ground beef already known to be positive for E. coli is never tested by the government.  As Hedges wrote:

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.

After ConAgra recalled 19 million pounds of ground beef for E. coli contamination in 2002, the company planned to "recycle" the ground beef it recovered by using it in canned chili products and pet food.  Consumers became aware of the plan when Dave Migoya of the Denver Post wrote about ConAgra's plan in a story titled, "CONAGRA CO. WILL LIKELY RECYCLE RECALLED E-COLI-TAINTED BEEF INTO COMPANY’S CONSUMER PRODUCTS 'AND NO ONE HAS TO TELL YOU IT'S THERE'".  The company ultimately announced that it was destroying the ground beef instead of re-using it.

One would speculate that Hedges' article could cause quite a stir if consumers read it and begin to understand that the "pre-cooked" products they purchase in freezer sections could contain pre-cooked E. coli and cow poop.

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