If you happened to need a reason to avoid frozen ground beef

Pretty interesting (and long) article in the NY Times on food safety in the beef industry. I found one quote particularly interesting. It's from an administrator for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service on promulgating rules:

Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an assistant administrator with the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said that the department could mandate testing, but that it needed to consider the impact on companies as well as consumers. “I have to look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health,” Dr. Petersen said.

Coming from someone working in the food safety division of such an agency, this is not very reassuring to consumers.

The article is here.

No, it's not very reassuring. When I was operating restaurants I had my beef ground locally - from whole briskets. Now I buy only locally raised, small production, grass fed ground beef with 10% fat.

And I still bleach my work surfaces (10% solution) after any meat, seafood or poultry has touched them.

And once again, Costco leads the field.

[Jenise]

“I have to look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health,” Dr. Petersen said.

[/quote]

Shocking quote. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that there's any issue other than public health.

Shocking quote. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that there's any issue other than public health.

I've got to agree. That is a sad statement coming from what is supposed to be a regulatory official, but fairly typical of the USDA's history of "oversight." Michael Pollan made this point in "Omnivore's Dilemma" that the USDA, almost uniquely within our government -- has the dual mandate to both promote and regulate our agricultural industry. That's a built-in conflict of interest to me.

On the subject of bacteria: it's important for people to understand that even freezing food doesn't prevent bacterial spoilage -- it merely slows it way down. Consumers' Union back in the '70s IIRC tested a bunch of frozen pizzas for salmonella and found a shockingly high percentage of contamination, which is why I'd never skimp on the cooking time on any of them. That's also why we are very careful with ground beef, too.

Mark Lipton

[Robin Garr]

Pretty interesting (and long) article in the NY Times on food safety in the beef industry. I found one quote particularly interesting. It's from an administrator for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service on promulgating rules:

Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an assistant administrator with the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said that the department could mandate testing, but that it needed to consider the impact on companies as well as consumers. “I have to look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health,” Dr. Petersen said.

Coming from someone working in the food safety division of such an agency, this is not very reassuring to consumers.

The article is here.

I wonder if he's a holdover from the Shrub Administration? That sounds very much like their pro-corporate take on governance.

No, it's not very reassuring. When I was operating restaurants I had my beef ground locally - from whole briskets. Now I buy only locally raised, small production, grass fed ground beef with 10% fat.

And I still bleach my work surfaces (10% solution) after any meat, seafood or poultry has touched them.

And once again, Costco leads the field.

Yet another good reason to hunt one's own wild game for the table.

Dr. Petersen is just telling it like it is. As Mark Lipton pointed out, the USDA is tasked by Congress with two often conflicting goals: the promotion of the industry and consumer protection. IMO there ought to be a separate agency in charge of setting the consumer-related regulations.

-Paul W.

Yeah, the USDA's requirement to promote the ag industry is not unique to the Bush administration or Republican administrations in general.

When Obama first came in, there was some talk of taking the food safety roles of both the FDA and the USDA and combining them into a single, new agency. That made a lot of sense to me although I'd imagine the turf wars would be epic if they ever tried such a thing. Wonder whatever happened to that idea....?

[Jenise]

Dr. Petersen is just telling it like it is. As Mark Lipton pointed out, the USDA is tasked by Congress with two often conflicting goals: the promotion of the industry and consumer protection. IMO there ought to be a separate agency in charge of setting the consumer-related regulations.

-Paul W.

I think most of us agree with you that he's doing so. And that's the problem: the only issue SHOULD be public safety.