November 17, 2002

By David Migoya, Denver Post Staff Writer

dmigoya@denverpost.com

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Last week's decision to shut down the former ConAgra slaughterhouse in Greeley because of recurring meat contamination may be an indication that a recent get-tough stance by federal food safety regulators is more than rhetoric, consumer groups say. But they are only cautiously optimistic.

In a summer marred by two of the largest meat recalls in history, one of them by the plant in Greeley, the U.S. Department of Agriculture may have finally found itself able to crack down, according to Caroline Smith-DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"The massive recalls have proven to be a trial by fire for the feds in charge of meat safety," DeWaal said. "They're finally willing to take tough actions when the industry doesn't respond to violations."

The plant in Greeley, one of the nation's largest slaughterhouses and now owned by Swift & Co., was forced to close Friday when inspectors walked out after again finding feces-contaminated meat.

The Denver Post has learned the government had already cited the plant 19 times since late August for allowing meat to become contaminated with feces, the favored breeding ground for the potentially lethal E. coli bacteria. Inspectors said they had briefly shut down production several times in prior weeks because of contamination, each time allowing it to resume when plant officials promised violations would not recur.

Three of the 19 violations occurred in the past week, inspectors said. Finally, the USDA concluded that the plant's efforts to keep meat free of feces were "ineffective or inadequate," agency spokesman Steven Cohen said.

"The number of violations show a breakdown with their program."

Slaughterhouses cannot produce or sell beef without federal inspection or the USDA seal of approval and are effectively shut down when the USDA withholds inspection.

The plant, partly owned by Vail investor George Gillett, is expected to remain closed at least until Tuesday, spokesman Jim Herlihy said.

"We are negotiating with the USDA about when we can resume production," Herlihy said Friday. "This is a regulatory issue, not a food-safety issue. There have been no allegations of contaminated product in commerce."

The agency's actions come just two weeks after a new USDA food-safety administrator told meat industry executives to be prepared for tougher oversight.

"Your system is broken, and it needs to be repaired," Garry McKee said at an industry convention on Oct. 28 in New Orleans.

Plants without adequate plans to prevent meat from becoming contaminated would find themselves scrutinized more, he said.

On Friday in Greeley, the USDA backed up those words.

"I'd call this a great step forward; we're glad to see it," said Karen Taylor Mitchell, executive director of Safe Tables Our Priority, a Vermont advocacy group representing the families of victims of food-borne illnesses.

Part of the problem has been the USDA's lack of enforcement when fecal-contaminated meat was at issue, known as "zero tolerance failures." Violations were written, sometimes dozens, but little else happened.

That occurred in Greeley, where inspectors found dirty meat nearly two dozen times before July, when the plant recalled nearly 18.6 million pounds of beef because of E. coli contamination concerns.

Even right after the recall, when the government was scrutinizing ConAgra's every move, inspectors quickly found problems with feces-smeared meat again -- and did little more than produce more paperwork.

Since the recall, the plant has been operating under a USDA warning, called a "notice of intended enforcement." A threatened suspension was set aside to allow the plant to implement a plan that would keep meat free from fecal contamination, a normal process.

Recently the Government Accountability Project, a consumer group that has tangled often with the USDA over inspection enforcement, disclosed documents it acquired from a Midwest plant whose inspectors were told in writing not to enforce the zero tolerance rule vigorously.

"What they've done in Greeley is a welcome sign, that maybe they've not completely abandoned the zero-tolerance rule," said Felicia Nestor of GAP. "I really don't know if this is all that encouraging or just another blip on the screen."

USDA's Cohen wouldn't say McKee's promise of stronger enforcement prompted Friday's action in Greeley, but he agreed "it was consistent with the vision of food safety inspection recently laid out by the new administrator."

Before his appointment this summer, McKee was director of Wyoming's health department.

Taking action against one of the country's biggest beef packers is a bold move that some say proves McKee wasn't just schmoozing in New Orleans. Still, others say, USDA didn't move on the Greeley plant until repeated violations had been noted, a chronic symptom of what's wrong the agency.

"It seems like 19 warnings is probably too many, given this plant's history," said Smith-DeWaal of the science center. "Any speeder who gets that many warnings before getting a ticket feels as if they can speed forever."

The slaughterhouse employs 2,500 people, processes 1.2 million cattle a year and produces several million pounds of beef a day, a lot of it shipped to Colorado stores.

Problems with contaminated meat aren't new to the plant. The Post in September revealed that violations for dirty meat were found there more than two dozen times in the months leading up to -- and soon after -- July's recall occurred.

More than half of those violations since July 2001 were for allowing feces to contaminate beef.

Just two days before Friday's suspension, Swift officials said workers at the plant would have new authority to shut down production if they spotted potential food safety hazards. Previously only supervisors could stop production.

The policy shift is indicative of the company's commitment to food safety, Swift's Herlihy said.

"We've been under intense USDA and self scrutiny since the recall," Herlihy said. "We have to find the best avenue from this point to move forward. With these new findings, we're taking every step possible to ensure it's minimized and that we produce nothing but safe, wholesome meat."

This is the first time the USDA suspended inspection at the Greeley facility, a move the USDA does not do easily, although it has done it frequently. Nationally, this is the 128th time the USDA has suspended inspections at a facility it oversees. Most suspensions were for a few hours, but some have lasted weeks.

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