Meat And Poultry

WASHINGTON -- Prompted by deaths in the Northwest from contaminated hamburger, the Clinton administration proposed yesterday to overhaul the nation's meat-inspection system to protect against a public health threat that has worsened in recent years: dangerous bacteria in meat and poultry.The administration's proposal, which was announced at a hearing of a House Agriculture subcommittee, would completely change the basis for safeguarding the meat supply, by enlisting advanced scientific techniques and monitoring equipment to discover invisible and very dangerous microbes.

Maryland hospitals are buying more food locally, according to a new analysis. Forty hospitals in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia are now purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables regularly during the growing season and nine are consistently purchasing meat or poultry produced by local farmers who use sustainable agricultural practices, according to Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. “Incorporating more local and sustainable foods requires a modification of the traditional purchasing practices of hospitals,” said Louise Mitchell, the organization's sustainable foods program manager.“Leading hospitals in this region deserve a lot of credit for their persistence, determination and strategic thinking on how to make it work.” The hospitals spent nearly $30,000 on local foods in one week during the Buy Local Challenge last July, twice the amount purchased during the same week in 2010 and translating to at least $60,000 of positive impact on the local economy.  Highest purchases for the week included Union Hospital of Cecil County at $5,482, Meritus Medical Center at $2,187 and Civista Medical Center at $1,841.

For food safety questions call the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hotline, 1-800-535-4555, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Within the poultry industry, company dealings with the farmers they contract with have been one-sided for at least the past 20 years. It's been a long, hard battle for contract farmers to try to gain any fairness in that relationship; I can't count the times in those 20 years that I've traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with our illustrious politicians about the issue. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has the authority to write and publish rules to protect farmers from unfair and/or deceptive practices.

Because of incorrect information provided to The Sun, the safe cooking temperatures for red meat and poultry were reversed in yesterday's Tidbits column in the A La Carte section. Ground beef should be cooked to 160 degrees, and whole poultry should be cooked to 180 degrees.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 8/28/97

Fresh sausage made from beef, pork or lamb should b cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, according to the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline (800-535-4555); sausage made from poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.Pub date 11/1/98@

For the first time since the federal government began regulating the safety of the American food supply, the Department of Agriculture announced yesterday that it would require all raw meat and poultry sold in bulk and at retail outlets to have labels with cooking and handling instructions.The outline for the new regulations were included in a legal document settling a lawsuit brought against the department by a consumer group and others.Such labeling of meat and poultry has been under consideration for several years, but the issue was brought to a head this year when the deaths of three people and the illnesses of more than 350 others were attributed to hamburgers served at a fast-food chain in Washington State.

Have a cooking question? Call a hotline.Duncan Hines has baking experts standing by at 1-800-DH-MOIST. This year-round hotline, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, can supply baking tips and recipes.Fleischmann's Yeast Baker's Hotline has bread baking information; 1-800-227-6202. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.Food safety questions can be answered by calling the U.S. Department of Agriculture Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-800-535-4555. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

THE LIKELIHOOD of getting salmonella through shell eggs at home is small. For safety's sake, however, the Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hotline advises taking these precautions when handling and cooking eggs:* Buy only clean, uncracked eggs from refrigerated cases. If you find a cracked egg in the carton, throw it out.* Keep eggs refrigerated and use in three to five weeks. Do not let eggs sit at room temperature for more than an hour.For optimal safety, both the white and the yolk of eggs should be thoroughly cooked.

Wonder how much fat you're chowing down in that hot dog or in the packaged, breaded frying chicken you picked up at the supermarket?It's pretty hard to tell with many meat products because the majority carry no nutritional labeling.But it looks as if that's going to change. The government is gearing up to require nutritional labeling for much meat and poultry, and expects to have a preliminary proposal ready for public comment by March 31.Nearly 60 percent of meat and poultry products today provide no nutritional labeling, according to a survey released March 6 by the consumer group Public Voice for Food & Health Policy.

We have weathered the food pyramid, the fascination with oat bran and the embrace of low-fat fare. Now, as is its habit, the federal government is giving us more advice on what to eat. A fresh set of federal dietary guidelines, a five-year update issued by the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, were announced last week. Happily, there seemed to be less nagging in this go-round than in prior years. Indeed, the phrase "enjoy your food" was part of the government 's message.

For the first time, Human Rights Watch has issued a report that harshly criticizes a single industry in the United States, concluding that working conditions among the nation's meatpackers and slaughterhouses are so bad that they violate basic human rights. The report, released yesterday, echoes Upton Sinclair's classic on the industry, The Jungle. It finds that jobs in many beef, pork and poultry plants are so dangerous as to breach international agreements promising a safe workplace.

I would like to make a marinade and freeze it in a plastic bag with beef, pork or poultry. It seems like a good idea to do this, then defrosting the meat in its marinade in my refrigerator and having it ready to cook. What marinades might work well with this method? Also, I know some home cooks who season their meat before freezing. What are your thoughts? Any time I see a way to make life easier, I'm going to sign up. I don't care how long the line is. Not only is storing meat in a marinade in the freezer an easy-care idea, but it also will help prevent the meat from developing freezer burn.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's environmental policies have hardly endeared him to Maryland's poultry industry. His pared-down diet isn't helping. Quietly, for about two years now, the governor has abstained from meat and poultry, says his spokesman Michael Morrill. He eats seafood, but not other animals. "It's for personal dietary reasons," Morrill says. "Doctors give people his age specific advice on how to improve their diet, and he's taken up a lot of their advice." Glendening, 58, is markedly slimmer than before he started the new regimen.

Fresh sausage made from beef, pork or lamb should b cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, according to the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline (800-535-4555); sausage made from poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.Pub date 11/1/98@

Because of incorrect information provided to The Sun, the safe cooking temperatures for red meat and poultry were reversed in yesterday's Tidbits column in the A La Carte section. Ground beef should be cooked to 160 degrees, and whole poultry should be cooked to 180 degrees.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 8/28/97

WASHINGTON -- Congressional critics and former top officials say the Agriculture Department does a poor job and should be stripped of its power to police meat and poultry safety. Their testimony was to come at a congressional hearing today.Witnesses set to advocate the reorganization include a veteran insider -- the man who headed USDA's food safety agency until 1991 -- and the senior food safety specialist for the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress.The Clinton administration also has endorsed the idea of consolidating food safety enforcement outside USDA, citing the need to prevent outbreaks like the undercooked hamburger tragedy in which three children died and 500 people were sickened in Washington state last January.

Maryland hospitals are buying more food locally, according to a new analysis. Forty hospitals in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia are now purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables regularly during the growing season and nine are consistently purchasing meat or poultry produced by local farmers who use sustainable agricultural practices, according to Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. “Incorporating more local and sustainable foods requires a modification of the traditional purchasing practices of hospitals,” said Louise Mitchell, the organization's sustainable foods program manager.“Leading hospitals in this region deserve a lot of credit for their persistence, determination and strategic thinking on how to make it work.” The hospitals spent nearly $30,000 on local foods in one week during the Buy Local Challenge last July, twice the amount purchased during the same week in 2010 and translating to at least $60,000 of positive impact on the local economy.  Highest purchases for the week included Union Hospital of Cecil County at $5,482, Meritus Medical Center at $2,187 and Civista Medical Center at $1,841.

IN JANUARY 1993, the same month Bill Clinton became president, three children died after eating hamburgers at a fast-food outlet and some 500 persons became ill from ingesting the virulent E. coli 0157: H7 bacterium. The national outcry drew promises that the new administration would do something. Now, after an early false start, the president has announced the most significant changes in meat inspection rules in 90 years.Though understandably skeptical, Americans can take comfort that even some consumer-watchdog groups have welcomed this initiative.