1. Meat & Poultry Recalls Lessons Learned Harry Wilson DVM NCDA & CS, Meat & Poultry Inspection

2. Meat & Poultry Recalls Reasons for Recalls ► Positive test for pathogen by inspection personnel or plant with product shipped in commerce ► Illnesses linked to specific product or products ► Consumer complaints identify problem ► Inspection personnel or plant personnel find processing problem or issue (mislabeling, allergens, etc)

3. Meat & Poultry Recalls Classifications ► Class I (reasonable probability of serious adverse health consequences or death)  Pathogens in RTE, EcoliO157 in ground beef  Sulfites, some allergens (eggs, milk, whey, nuts, shrimp, crustacea)  Undercooked, produced without inspection  Some foreign materials ► Class II (remote probability of adverse health consequences)  Some foreign materials  Some allergens (wheat, soy, sardines, anchovies, seafood)  SRM issues, ineligible for import, produced without inspection ► Class III (no adverse health consequences)  Unlabeled MSG  Imported product not presented for inspection  Quality issues or consumer protection issues (water, etc)

4. Meat & Poultry Recalls Some Tips Learned from Field ► Disturbing trend of more recalls for pathogens in raw products, i.e. Salmonella in ground turkey, Salmonella in raw, breaded, poultry or chicken entrees, and Salmonella DT 104 in raw ground beef  More and better education for food preparation workers, whether in the home kitchen, processing plant, or restaurant  Is the public ready for whole carcass surface irradiation as a “pasteurization” technique ► Restrictive recall insurance plans, most only pay for Class I recall, read the fine print

5. Meat & Poultry Recalls What’s Really Important-Prevention ► It goes without saying, use HACCP, GMP, and good quality control to produce product ► Stay current on new interventions and mitigation strategies to help reduce pathogens ► Sign up for automatic recall notifications of meat & poultry products to note trends. If you use FDA products in your formulations, sign up for FDA recalls to notify you of problems or trends with your suppliers ► Code date finished product so you can identify it and link it to a certain lot or day’s production with the supporting HACCP records ► Maintain formulation records that identify ingredients (manufacturer, lot code, date, etc) and tie those formulations to finished product code lots

6. Meat & Poultry Recalls What’s Really Important-Prevention ► You have to know the pathogens of concern for your product and how inspection decides what “affected product” is subject to recall  Listeria monocytogenes in RTE is usually environmental  E coliO157:H7 in raw products usually comes in with product  E coliO157:H7 or Salmonella with RTE product is process failure or cross contamination  Salmonella in raw products can come in with product or be cross contaminated from other raw products

7. Meat & Poultry Recalls What’s Really Important-Prevention ► Consider formulation/production methods that will prevent or eliminate hazards  RTE processes without post lethality exposure  Inhibitory compounds used in formulations  Additional interventions in beef destined for grinding or diversion of high risk beef trim to cooking  Adequate verification testing to ensure process is in control  Process control to avoid allergen recalls, (production of non-allergen containing products before products with allergens, or clean-ups)

8. Meat & Poultry Recalls 2011 Recall Synopsis ► 102 National FSIS meat or poultry recalls (no MPID recalls) ► 40 were for allergens (39%) 20 Class I, 20 Class II ► 33 were for pathogens in product (32%) Class I ► 12 were mislabeled (12%) all Class II or Class III ► 6 were for no inspection coverage (6%) ► 5 were for foreign materials (5%) ► 2 were for under processing Class I (no illnesses) ► 2 were adulteration Class I and II: ► 1 spoiled product and 1 ivermectin in imported product

9. Meat & Poultry Recalls 2011 & 2010 Recall Synopsis YearRecallsPathogensUnder Process Path w/ Illness Raw w/ Illness 20107026 /37%26 /8.6%5 201110233 /32%26 /5.9%5 YearPathogensFSIS TestOther Test Pathogen with Illness 20102610 6 20113313146

10. Recall Example (Allergen) ► A NC firm recalls 440 lbs. of a meatloaf with mashed potatoes dinner meal because of an undeclared allergen, anchovies  The plant makes several meat loaf entrees and put the wrong meat loaf label on the product. The meat loaf with potatoes has a meat loaf seasoned with Worcestershire sauce which contains anchovies. The label used on the product was for a meat loaf with tomato sauce which did not have Worcestershire sauce used in the seasoning.  Problem discovered by the checkout person at the grocery selling the dinner entree

11. Other Allergen Examples ► A NC firm recalled 216,000 lbs. of mushroom flavored pork loins due to an undeclared allergen (whey).  This was a Class I recall and resulted from a change in the spice blend without making the necessary changes on the label (change spice manufacturers or ingredients and assume that ingredients were the same)  Discovered by the company ► A PA firm recalled 188,000 lbs. of canned chicken noodle soup because of an undeclared allergen (milk)  This was a Class I recall. The cans actually contained Cream of Chicken soup instead of Chicken Noodle Soup  Discovered by a consumer ►

12. Recall Examples (pathogen) ► A NC firm recalled 96,000 lbs. of beef products for further processing for E coliO157:H7.  Class I recall resulting from FSIS test. Plant was notified prior to test and held product, but did not hold all the “affected product” ► Similar recall from a GA grocer who was sampled by FSIS and held the rest of day’s product, etc but continued to produce ground beef for sale from the same lot in later days. Sample was positive and retailer had a national recall. ► A State plant in NC recalls 2000 lbs of barbecue for Listeria monocytogenes  Plant was given advance notice of test and did not hold any product. Test was positive and recall ensued

13. Recall Examples (pathogens) ► A Texas firm recalled 2600 lbs. of smoked turkey breast for Listeria monocytogenes (Class I recall)  4-6 lb packages of turkey breast that were sliced and repackaged after cooking  Prevention by cooking smaller portions and never opening final package (no post lethality exposure) ► Similar recalls for Salmonella in barbecue and Listeria in chili could have been avoided by “hot packing” chili or barbecue above the lethality temperature in the final package (5 lb. tub) ► Similar recall for pork skins with Listeria monocytogenes. There is good science out to support holding some shelf stable final products 7 days after packaging will kill Lm that might be cross contaminated during packaging

14. Other Recall Examples ► A number of national recalls for producing product without inspection. Some of these are working on days outside of normal hours without notifying inspection, others are for plants that occasionally work and must notify inspectors when they will be working ► A few recalls for SRM materials left in beef products after processing (attention to detail) ► Some recalls for processing errors/deviations where plants make a determination without advice of processing authority (cooling/cooking deviations)

15. Meat & Poultry Recalls Lessons Learned Harry Wilson DVM NCDA & CS, Meat & Poultry Inspection 919.625.0659 harry.wilson@fsis.usda.gov arry.wilson@fsis.usda.gov harry.wilson@ncagr.gov arry.wilson@ncagr.gov