The meat producer shut down the plant and ordered a recall of more than 27 million pounds of fresh and frozen ready-to-eat turkey and chicken products made since May 1, the largest meat recall ever. But Pilgrim’s Pride conceded that most of those products had already been sold and consumed–including about 1.8 million pounds of turkey products sold to the U.S. Department of Agriculture itself for distribution to schools and other agencies. Critics complained that the foodborne bacteria could have been detected earlier–possibly preventing an outbreak in the first place–if stricter USDA inspections had been in place. A second outbreak of the infection, whose source has not yet been identified, has killed 18 and affected another 64 people with flulike symptoms. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke with Dr. Garry McKee, head of the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees the tests of food plants and food products for potential health hazards, about the listeria outbreaks, the reasons behind them, and whether they could have prevented.
NEWSWEEK: Pilgrim’s Pride said most of the turkey and chicken products it ordered recalled this week had already been purchased nationally at grocery stores and restaurants and likely consumed. Yet the listeria strain wasn’t discovered at the plant until several weeks after the outbreak–and months after some of meat products were sold. Why wasn’t it caught earlier?
Garry McKee: Their products weren’t associated initially with the people getting sick. The company picked those dates [May 1 through Oct. 11] for the recall, not us. I would suspect that they wanted the recall to be large enough, to go back far enough, in case they had a problem.
But the Centers for Disease Control now says there is a “likely” connection between that outbreak and the Pilgrim’s Pride meat products that were recalled. What happened?
The CDC did epidemiological questionnaires with the people who got sick, asking what they ate, and then we identified products common among them and traced it back to the plants. This plant was not the first one we visited. We identified several plants and, in that process, we gathered more than 400 different product samples. In one of the samples [from a Pilgrim’s Pride meat product] we found listeria. But the so-called fingerprint [enzyme pattern] of the bacteria we found did not match that in the Northeast outbreak. Still, a listeria discovery requires a recall. So, on Oct. 9, Pilgrim’s Pride recalled 295,000 pounds of turkey and chicken products.
We continued to do environmental testing in that Wampler Foods plant and found one environmental sample did match up with what we had found earlier in the product. So the company decided to voluntarily expand the recall back to May 1. Then, after doing continued testing and taking samples from the plant, we found three more environmental samples that matched with the fingerprint from the outbreak.
So why not say this is the source, rather than calling it a “likely” source? Could there be other sources?
It is a rare pattern of listeria–only about 1 percent is found in the environment. So that’s a good chance that this is the source. But it is not completely unique to this plant. It is possible that the bacteria could be found in other places, as well.
Why would Pilgrim’s Pride recall the meat produced at that plant as far back as May 1?
We had some suspicions that a sample from the plant might match up [to the outbreak], but it was not confirmed at that point. That’s one reason the company went back all the way to May 1. And we are still testing products today. We have not completed the investigation.
Has the Pilgrim’s Pride Wampler Foods plant in Franconia, Pa., been reopened yet?
It has not been reopened because they do not have an approved [food-safety] plan yet. We still have to approve it.
What changes have to be made before it could be reopened?
I don’t have the details on what necessary changes they have to make but they are re-evaluating their plan for dealing with this [preventing bacteria].
In addition to the listeria outbreak that has been linked with the Pilgrim’s Pride recall, there are another 64 people now identified as being infected with a Listeria bacteria different from the initial outbreak strain (18 of whom have died). Have you identified the source for these other listeria cases?
I can’t tell you much about that outbreak, but we have not identified any connection with Pilgrim’s Pride there. I believe that there are different strains among these people. The CDC is still in the early stages of investigating these cases.
Carol Tucker Foreman from the Consumer Federation of America, has been quoted as saying: “The [listeria] illnesses are the result of inexcusable dereliction of duty by the government agency charged with assuring meat safety.” How would you respond to that?
I completely disagree with that statement. Public health is our No. 1 priority here at FSIS. We worked around the clock with CDC to be able to identify the source of the outbreak as quickly as possible and to initiate the recall right away. I’m not sure what the justification is for that statement, but I feel it is completely incorrect.
Last year, the USDA proposed rules, written by the Clinton administration, to require makers of ready-to-eat meats to test for listeria in their plants. The comment period ended in May 2001, but nothing seems to have been done with them since then. Why is that?
We are required by law to do an assessment on any rule we implement. It takes a number of months to complete that based upon gathering the information so we ensure that the rule that is published is one that is adequate and stringent enough. There is a listeria summit scheduled for next month–it was already on the books before this happened–and that should help us get some feedback.
If those rules had been in place, could the listeria illnesses connected to the Pilgrim’s Pride plant been prevented?
The rules look at a number of things we are already doing. This particular rule concerns a strategy for plants to do testing. But this Wampler Foods plant was doing environmental testing voluntarily. And we take about 10,000 environmental samples a year. We had tested this plant four times in six months and found negatives. You can’t put all your testing eggs in one basket. The plan has to be adequate to protect the public. That has to be the biggest part. The testing alone is not a panacea in protecting the public. We are looking at taking more environmental samples ourselves and increasing the frequency of testing of plants. There were also some plants under exemption in the past because their production levels are low and they were considered less of a hazard. Now they have to do testing, too.
Do you think there is anything the USDA could have done to prevent the outbreak?
Well, there is always an opportunity for improvement. We learn from outbreaks how to make the system work better. We’re continuing to improve the system based on our learning about what might be a risk to the public.
In 2001, there were just six recalls. So far, in 2002, there have been about 58 recalls–more than 50 million pounds of beef products and turkey and chicken ready-to-eat products have been recalled. Is this the result of increased vigilance or are you seeing more incidences of listeria?
I think that our approach is to be more conscientious about protecting the public health. There was a large amount that was called back in the Pilgrim’s Pride case that was not associated with an outbreak. It is in the interest of public health to make sure that potentially adulterated food is recalled. We’re erring on the side of safety.
What are some of the other steps you are taking at the FSIS to improve food safety?
There has been quite a bit done already. About three weeks ago, the FSIS issued a policy to require plants to reassess their plans in regards to E. coli as a hazard “reasonably likely to occur.” So plants across the country are required to do that. We’re also requiring that the testing for bacteria now be done among the small plants. And we are increasing our environmental testing.
About 2,500 people on average contract listeriosis each year. Former president Bill Clinton called for a 50 percent reduction in the number of listeria-related illnesses by 2005–five years ahead of the previously established 2010 target. Do you think that’s still possible?
We have seen a reduction over the last four years. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but it’s been pretty substantial. Clearly the organism [Listeria monocytogenes] shouldn’t be in ready-to-eat products; we want to decrease it to the point that it is not present at all in ready-to-eat products.
