Beef Safety Task Force Sets
First Meetings For Next Week

LINCOLN, Neb. —(AP)— An industry task force created to alleviate safety concerns about beef and educate the public about the dangers of the E. coli bacteria begins work next week.

The task force will include representatives from the beef producer, packer, processor, retailer, food service, research and technology and government segments of the industry, said Chuck Schroeder, task force chairman and chief executive officer of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

The first meeting, likely to take place by telephone next week, will define the group's objectives, establish an operating structure and create a timetable for its efforts. The meeting time will be set after responses have been received from all those who were invited last week to serve on the task force, said Lynne Heinze of the cattlemen's association.

Schroeder has identified the group's four main objectives as being in the areas of research, education, consumer information and policy.

Nebraska has a lot at stake as the nation's No. 1 beef-producing state. There are about 28,000 beef producers in the state and beef production is worth about $5 billion a year to Nebraska.

Keith DeHaan, vice president of technical operations for BeefAmerica, said the Omaha-based company will not be represented on the task force but that he was confident the group will find solutions to problems facing the industry.

Earlier this month, 443,656 pounds of ground beef from BeefAmerica's Norfolk, Va., plant was recalled after meat tainted with the E. coli bacteria found in a Virginia grocery store was traced to the plant. DeHaan said BeefAmerica's experiences can be used as a resource for the task force if requested.

The task force was created in response to the BeefAmerica recall and, more significantly, the recall of 25 million pounds of ground beef processed at the Hudson Foods Inc. plant in Columbus because of the threat of E. coli.

Since the Aug. 21 recall, the Hudson plant has been sold to IBP Inc., the Hudson company has been sold to Tyson Foods, and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have said they may never know where the contamination originated.

Sixteen people in Colorado were sickened by meat traced to the Hudson plant. Investigators said it was provided by an outside slaughterhouse, though none has been named.

The USDA investigation is ongoing. A federal grand jury in Omaha also is investigating whether there was an attempt to cover up the extent of the possible contamination.

In addition to the Hudson and BeefAmerica recalls, Dakota City-based IBP Inc. was involved with an E. coli contamination scare of its own when South Korean officials said the bacteria was detected on the outside of meat shipped to that country from the company.

The 40,000 pounds of meat in question is being returned to the United States and will be disposed of according to USDA recommendations, IBP spokesman Gary Mickelson said Monday.