Meat Safety: Inspection System's Ability to Detect Harmful Bacteria
Remains Limited (Testimony, 02/10/94, GAO/T-RCED-94-123).

The federal meat inspection program is only marginally better at
protecting the public from harmful bacteria than it was a year ago when
several people died after eating hamburgers contaminated with E. coli
bacteria.  The Agriculture Department (USDA) continues to rely on visual
inspections that cannot detect such pathogens--the greatest public
health risk associated with meat and poultry. USDA's efforts to improve
its inspection system have not addressed this inherent weaknesses, nor
has USDA tried to require routine microbial testing by industry and
government.  To better protect the public from foodborne illnesses, USDA
must adopt a modern, scientific, risk-based inspection system that would
allow the agency to target inspections to higher-risk meat and poultry
products and to develop methods to help inspectors detect microbial
contamination.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-94-123
     TITLE:  Meat Safety: Inspection System's Ability to Detect Harmful 
             Bacteria Remains Limited
      DATE:  02/10/94
   SUBJECT:  Food inspection
             Food supply
             Contaminated foods
             Poultry industry
             Meat inspection
             Safety standards
             Consumer protection
             Testing
             Livestock products

             
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