USDA Softens Stance
On Meat Inspections

WASHINGTON —(AP)— After 13 plant shutdowns since January, the U.S. Agriculture Department is giving meat and poultry plants the chance to fix minor technical inspection violations themselves as long as the problem doesn't involve tainted food.

Since implementation of a new inspection system three months ago in the nation’s 312 largest plants, industry officials have complained that the Agriculture Department took action without adequately notifying companies involved.

In response, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service put together a formal procedure that allows plants three business days to address problems that could subject them to a costly shutdown.

"We think it addresses their concerns. It's fair. It's a balanced approach," Thomas Billy, administrator of the inspection service, told reporters Tuesday.

None of the 13 shutdowns under the new inspection method — known as the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system, or HACCP — stemmed from confirmed contamination by hazardous microbes such as E. coli, Billy said. Most involved failure to adequately document preventive measures such as proper temperature control or problems with sanitation.

When an inspector cites a particular problem over and over, it is eventually considered a system failure and can result in a plant shutdown through withdrawal of all government inspectors. But 11 meat and poultry organizations protested that the rule was vague and being enforced unevenly.