Proc. 57th Southern Pasture and Forage Crop Improvement Conference, Athens, GA April 23-25, 2002
New Directions for Food Protection
Frankie J. Beacorn and Douglas O. Abbott
USDA/FSIS/OPHS/BD
Microbial Outbreaks and Special Projects Branch
Athens, Georgia
Events of the past few months have changed the way our society carries out daily activities. Individuals, small and large businesses, industries, universities, and governing authorities have all looked inward to assess risks and change normal operating procedures to assure greater protection of assets and people. Assuring ‘Homeland Security‘ has become pervasive for all aspects of the federal government and federal web-sites describe measures taken to protect and inform the citizenry. The agencies of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have added information to their respective web-sites to guide and educate the public on measures taken to protect agricultural interests. Protective measures are now in place for all portions or the ‘farm to fork‘ continuum. These range from monitoring crop production, animal practices, and feed composition, to pre- and post–harvest inspection processes. Many of these protective measures are not new and have been in place in agencies charged with serving the public and protecting various aspects of agricultural production and ultimately our food supply.
The United States food safety system is comprised of agencies from several different departments within the Federal Government. FDA, EPA, APHIS, and FSIS participate in processes to regulate, monitor, and enforce laws related to maintaining a safe food supply. The USDA includes two of these agencies. FSIS regulates meat, poultry and egg products, and APHIS protects America‘s animal and plant resources. The focus of this discussion will be on the actions taken by FSIS to assure the safety of meat, poultry and egg products for consumers.
FSIS is responsible for ensuring that the commercial supply of meat, poultry and egg products moving in interstate commerce or exported to other countries is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. Domestic and imported meat, poultry, and egg product safety standards are set and inspected for by FSIS. The Office of Public health and Science (OPHS) provides scientific analyses, advice, data, and recommendations on all matters involving public health and science that are of concern to FSIS. Under the umbrella of OPHS, FSIS maintains three Field Service Laboratories (FSL) for analysis of microbiological, chemical, and pathology samples. Samples are routed to the field services Labs via FSIS sampling programs.
The goals of FSIS sampling programs are to first sample to collect data in support of the development of science-based performance standards, and then sample to verify compliance with those standards. FSIS sampling programs fall under categories of baseline studies, HACCP, surveillance, and outbreak related samples. Baseline studies are designed to estimate the prevalence and levels of bacteria of public health concern on carcasses or product. The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system allows producers to evaluate the food safety hazards that could affect the safety of their products and to incorporate controls into their systems to prevent those hazards from occurring (or maintain hazards within acceptable limits). Surveillance or monitoring samples are collected periodically on a random basis to verify compliance to the established standards. Follow up sampling occurs when conditions warrant. The microbiology sections of the Field Service Laboratories participate in programs by analyzing samples for Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and E. coli O157:H7. These labs analyze the routine program samples collected by FSIS employees in the plants.
Samples associated with food-borne illnesses or outbreaks are handled differently. Usually, epidemiologists make an association between a reported illness and a suspected product based on evidence collected or interviews with patients or their families. A suspected product may be forwarded to one of the field labs under special circumstances, but is generally shipped to the Microbial Outbreaks and Special Projects Branch (MOSPB) for microbiological testing.
The Microbial Outbreaks and Special Projects Branch (MOSPB) is dedicated to analysis of outbreak samples, genetic comparisons of microbial cultures isolated from products by the three Field Service Laboratories, special projects for adapting or improving existing FSIS methods, and method validations. Outbreak sample analysis takes priority over other projects. Once an association between food-borne disease and a suspect FSIS-regulated product is made, the sample is analyzed by MOSPB. Results are sent to FSIS officials who may proceed with regulatory action based on those results. As an extension of this work, MOSPB has made arrangements to join the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is upgrading facilities in preparation for biosecurity-related occurrences. The LRN is a network of public health laboratories associated with CDC, which are trained to respond during possible biosecurity breaches.
FSIS maintains a strong food safety system and is dedicated to strengthening the food safety programs that are already in existence. Dr. Elsa Murano, Under Secretary for Food Safety, has presented several speeches in the past few months highlighting the FSIS response to heightened levels of Homeland security. These speeches are available on the FSIS web-site at www.usda.gov/oa/speeches. Dr. Murano reveals that ongoing scientific reviews of performance standards are occurring to suggest possible changes for strengthening the meat inspection system. The FSIS workforce is changing by creation of Consumer Safety Officer positions, improving the roles of veterinarians, and enhancing training of the inspection workforce to meet changing needs. Risk assessment procedures are cited as means by which science-based decisions can be made. On January 15, 2002, Dr. Murano stated that a lot of what the USDA needs to do regarding Food Safety is already being doneregarding the issue of biosecurity. In addition to what is currently being done, FSIS has formed teams to evaluate procedures and coordinate responses, and is working to enhance coordinated responses among groups within the agency and between FSIS and other Federal agencies.
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