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Failing
In August 2002, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that the new regimen, known as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), was, in many ways, failing.In its report, the GAO criticized the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which oversees HACCP, for, among other things, "not ensuring that all plants take prompt and effective action after violations have been identified"; not seeing "that plants take prompt action to meet the Salmonella performance standard after a second consecutive failure"; and failing, in general, to "track the actual time [a] plant takes to make the correction." The GAO also said that when FSIS threatens one of its harshest sanctions -- pulling inspectors from a plant in order to shut it down -- it "generally places those suspensions in abeyance, allowing the plants to continue operating."
Claims of lax enforcement consistent with those findings have been a recurring theme in some of the worst recent food-illness incidents.
Plaintiffs in suits arising from an E. coli outbreak in Wisconsin in 2000 blame an Excel Corp. beef plant in Colorado, saying it caused many illnesses and the death of a three-year-old girl. USDA inspectors repeatedly noted fecal contamination on carcasses there, which they reported to superiors and warned the company about. Yet production continued. Excel says it fixed any violations the USDA found and denies its products caused the outbreak. In May 2003, a state appeals court, without deciding on the merits of the case, ruled that the plaintiffs' suits could proceed.
Another E. coli outbreak in summer 2002 -- which sickened at least 23 and was suspected in one death, according to the USDA's inspector general -- was linked to meat from a Colorado plant then owned by ConAgra. The investigation found that agency inspectors and plant employees knew about pathogen problems and didn't address them properly, and that 63 tests conducted by ConAgra detected E. coli. But according to the report, USDA agents didn't pursue the results "even though they knew those tests showed the presence of the pathogen." A spokesman for the company that bought ConAgra disputes the findings, saying the company acted on any warnings it got and that the outbreak was due not to a chronic problem but to one day's production.
Then there's the listeriosis outbreak that claimed Matthew Wysocki's life.
Listeriosis sickens some 2,500 people a year and kills 500. Results range from violent stomachache to encephalitis. Recent major outbreaks have been linked to leaky pipes and condensation at food-processing plants.
Ready-to-eat foods like hot dogs, cold cuts and cheeses made from raw milk are the main carriers of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium. Packed in their own fluids, these foods are often eaten straight from the wrapping. Freezing won't kill the pathogen and many ready-to-eat foods aren't heated enough to kill the bacteria.
From July 1 to November 30, 2002, there were 188 people with listeriosis identified in nine East Coast and Midwest states. Fifty-four contracted the same strain. Eight died, and there were three fetal deaths. Many said they'd eaten sliced turkey more than once or twice a week.
In September, as the death toll climbed, the CDC sent a team of disease detectives to help find the contamination's source. They interviewed victims and their families, and dug through garbage cans and freezers. A prime suspect emerged: a Wampler Foods plant in Franconia, Pennsylvania, that churned out 295,000 pounds of turkey franks and deli meats a day.
On October 12, the CDC confirmed finding the precise strain of Listeria that was sickening people in the plant's drains. Wampler, a unit of Pilgrim's Pride, recalled 27 million pounds of food and closed for a month.
In November, the CDC confirmed finding the outbreak strain in food from a Jack Lambersky Poultry Company plant in Camden, New Jersey. The firm recalled 4.2 million pounds of meat.
The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 required poke-and-sniff tests on carcasses to keep diseased foods off dinner tables.
Under HACCP, processors now identify steps along the production line where contamination may occur, then apply such measures as chemical rinses, pasteurization and steam baths at those points. Though the USDA does not approve companies' plans, a poor review can result in a plant shutdown.
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