Food Protection Trends - December 2008 - 917

Copyright© 2008, International Association for Food Protection 6200 Aurora Ave., Suite 200W, Des Moines, IA 50322-2864 Food Protection Trends, Vol. 28, No. 12, Pages 917–927 Adoption of Interventions to Improve Food Safety at Meat and Poultry Processing Plants in the United States CATHERINE L.VIATOR,* SHERYL C. CATES, SHAWN A. KARNS and MARY K. MUTH RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA SUMMARY INTRODUCTION Meat and poultry processors debone, fabricate, grind, or further process (for example, cook, cure, or smoke) meat and poultry products. These processors must address problems of foodborne pathogens on meat and poultry products, both incoming and during processing and packaging. Three foodborne pathogens that are of primary concern to meat and poultry processors are E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes. Although some consider the United States food supply to be one of the safest in the world, millions of Americans contract foodborne illness each year (8). For example, more than 40 Americans became ill and 21 were hospitalized after consuming ground beef contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 during the country’s third largest beef recall in September 2007. Although some point to this large recall as a random event, others fear it as a sign of a decline in improvements made by the meat industry to reduce E. coli (15). In any case, meat processors need to remain diligent in their efforts to promote food safety. To learn how meat and poultry processors promote food safety, we conducted a nationally representative mail survey of processing plants (944 completed surveys, 66% response rate). Plants employ a variety of sanitation and other food safety practices to control Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and other pathogens. Most plants sanitize hand tools during operations (89%) and treat drains with sanitizers for pathogen control (84%). About 64% of plants have purchase specifications to control pathogens in raw meat and poultry. However, less than one-third of plants apply antimicrobial chemicals. Seventy-one percent of plants conduct voluntary microbiological testing, and 70% conduct environmental sampling. Analysis by HACCP size suggests that large and small plants are more likely than very small plants to use many types of food safety practices and technologies (P < 0.01). Furthermore, plants that produce readyto-eat products or inputs to further processing are more likely than plants with no such production to use some types of food safety practices and technologies. The findings can be used to establish a baseline of current industry practices, to conduct analyses of plant practices that might contribute to risk-based inspection initiatives, and to conduct required economic analyzes of proposed regulations. A peer-reviewed article *Author for correspondence: 985.851.5926; Fax: 985.851.5926 Email: viator@rti.org DECEMBER 2008 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS 917

Food Protection Trends - December 2008

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