USDA ASKS ADVICE TO RID MEAT OF LISTERIA TAINT

JIM OSTROFF

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking food-industry and researchers' advice about stemming the growing incidence of consumers reportedly made ill by eating meats tainted with the Listeria bacteria.

However, barring an unexpected increase of epidemic proportions of this disease, it appears the agency is unlikely to force food retailers and manufacturers to comply with new perishables handling regulations, or guidelines.

The agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service kicked off the latest Clinton administration effort to check food-borne illness with an all-day hearing on industry-government initiatives to eliminate listeriosis.

This illness, caused by the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, causes 1,850 people to become seriously ill each year and 425 to die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Those most susceptible to the disease are newborns, the elderly, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems caused by various diseases and those taking certain steroid medications.

Listeria occurs naturally in soil and water and it infects vegetables, dairy, poultry and meat products. However, the CDC has reported that most of the recent cases of listeriosis have been linked to hot dogs and deli meats. The bacteria, like other food-borne pathogens such as E. coli, generally are killed by heat during cooking.

In calling the conclave, USDA food-safety officials made it clear that they do not consider listeriosis to be an imminent health hazard requiring immediate intervention, or new processing mandates for food retailers or processors. Rather, the agency stated it "believes the current nationwide listeriosis outbreaks associated with meat and poultry products, as unfortunate as they are, present an opportunity to strengthen control efforts from farm to table and to reduce the risk of human illness."

Consequently, the FSIS hearing did not take on a "crisis" air, as did some previous ones relating to poultry- and vegetable-borne food illnesses, or the 1990 Chilean grape-poisoning episode. Indeed, the food-safety agency stated that it "anticipates using the information gathered at this meeting as a vehicle for developing a short- and long-term strategy for research, education and enforcement regarding Listeria monocytogenes."

The agency said it will coordinate these activities with the CDC, Food and Drug Administration and the Partnership for Food Safety, a joint government-industry program.

Speakers at the conclave, held at an Arlington, Va., hotel -- drawn mainly from various federal food and health agencies -- spent most of the session discussing technical issues, such as protocols for sampling and recalls of foods suspected of being infected by Listeria, revision of pull-by dates on various fresh foods and consumer-education initiatives.

The American Meat Institute, Reston, Va., was the lone major food group that participated in the session. Jim Hodges, the AMI's senior vice president for regulatory affairs, noted that although the meat and poultry industry has developed "strict sanitation practices" for preventing Listeria contamination at the processing plant and in processed foods, "this elusive environmental pathogen can still sometimes contaminate ready-to-eat foods -- typically after processing, but before packaging."

Hodges added that, "We operate in a regulatory environment with zero tolerance for Listeria on ready-to-eat products -- a standard that is unique to the United States and not consistently achievable. We do not want to fight the standard; we prefer to fight the pathogen."

Consequently, he said, the AMI put together a "Blue Ribbon Task Force on Listeria" last month to develop enhanced technologies and education programs "that will lead to zero Listeria in ready-to-eat meat and poultry products."

Specifically, Hodges said, the task force will develop revised heat-processing and "vigorous sanitation practices," noting that Listeria "prevention requires control measures above and beyond what has been considered acceptable to control other pathogens." In addition, he told the panel, the task force is seeking to develop guidelines for eliminating Listeria microbes that might be present anywhere in food-processing plants.

The plan also is to develop programs to educate food processors, retailers and consumers about proper food handling, sanitation and rotation of products to eliminate Listeria from foods.

Nonetheless, Hodges emphasized that work needs to be done to develop new technologies to control and eliminate Listeria from the food chain, noting that "current technologies and methods do not get us to 'zero' [Listeria contamination] consistently every time."

Post-packaging pasteurization using heat or irradiation, for example, must be given serious consideration to eliminate Listeria from foods, Hodges told the panel. He added that the AMI is "embarking on a major research initiative to investigate the use of various technologies, including irradiation, to improve the safety of our products."

Irradiation technologies can not be employed, though, until the USDA approves them for use on red meats, as well as processed foods, he said, urging the agency to do both.

After years of debate, the USDA several years ago gave poultry processors permission to use ionizing radiation to eliminate the incidence of Salmonella bacteria on chicken. There's been no rush to use irradiation, though, given oft-times difficult licensing procedures for irradiating facilities and continued consumer resistance to irradiated foods. Ionizing radiation does not leave any radioactive residues in food.

Hodges also told the panel that the task force will investigate the use of "various ingredients that help retard the growth of pathogens on ready-to-eat products." The use of these additives likely would need approval from the USDA, which regulates both food additives and so-called standards of identity that govern, for example, how much of a spice or salt or fat can be added to a food product.

The Food Marketing Institute, Washington, meanwhile, has announced that, as a result of the heightened awareness about Listeria, it is adding the safe handling of in-store prepared meats and chicken to its Total Food Safety Management Program. The program, which focuses on voluntary methods for ensuring the safe handling, preparation, storage and display of products ranging from in-store fresh-cut produce to ground beef, is being tested in various supermarkets, an FMI spokeswoman said.

She added the entire program is slated to be rolled out by early summer.