USDA Rules

* I was disappointed to read Alexander Cockburn’s flippant July 3 column, “One Hot Dog, Please, and Hold the Red Tape.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture takes seriously its responsibility to protect Americans from food-borne illnesses. We have required all meat and poultry operations to take increased responsibility and introduce preventive measures to produce safe and wholesome products. Salmonella prevalence in meat and poultry has been significantly lowered. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tied reductions in food-borne illness linked to meat and poultry to the implementation of these requirements.

During the development of rules for the new requirements, the Food Safety and Inspection Service made special efforts to include input from small businesses. Very small plants, defined as those having less than 10 employees, were given two extra years to implement the requirements. For the 3,400 very small federally inspected plants and 2,300 state-inspected plants, we also provided one-on-one assistance, self-study guides, models and training videos. More than 98% of very small plants are successfully operating under the new inspection requirements.

THOMAS J. BILLY

Administrator, FSIS

USDA, Washington