Spring/Summer 2010 - Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products ...

Food Industry
arious necessities such as
food, water, and energy affect
our daily lives, and the
way we live. Far too many people are
removed from direct contact with the
production and distribution of these
daily necessities, and do not understand
the manufacturing processes.
They take for granted the ease of food,
water, and natural resource consumption.
The United States has the most
abundant, easily accessible, and safest
food supply in the world. Americans
also are fortunate to have an abundant
supply of energy and potable water.
Many think the cost of water and energy
is too expensive, but if you realize
these are not evenly distributed by
nature, but by man, it makes the cost
more easily understood. We, as a nation,
have been blessed with wonderful
natural resources.
However, the food industry has
not been so blessed. The increasing
cost of following the rules and regulations
of the United States Department
of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection
Service, and the Environmental
Protection Agency or Department
of Environmental Quality has drained
8 | fapc.biz
the pocketbooks of small- to mediumsized
food processors.
We must meet certain standards
in our daily operations of production,
distribution, and storage of goods. The
non-meat products also must meet
certain standards, including water. The
government also expects us to educate
the American consumer on food safety.
It is a large problem for meat processors.
Once the product leaves the
facility, whether to the ultimate consumer,
grocery store, restaurant, or any
other customer, the processor has no
control over how the product is treated
and if it is kept safe. We should not be
expected to follow the customer home
and watch over their household food
supply.
These changes keep growing like a snowball going
downhill without a bottom and keep getting bigger
and rolling faster.
I have been associated with the
meat and livestock industry for more
than fifty years. Changes have always
been a part of meat processing; however,
changes have been coming at a
greater speed and in greater numbers
the last ten to fifteen years. The changes
are like a snowball rolling downhill;
they just keep growing. The problem
is this particular hill has no bottom.
Therefore, this giant snowball is going
to keep getting bigger and faster.
USDA and FSIS
Being a small meat processor,
many of the mandated government
policies for food safety are not necessarily
hard to overcome, but can be
very expensive. I am not against food
safety, but a firm believer. However,
many avenues the government is using
to enforce food safety are expensive,
and I think redundant.
On the horizon for meat processors
is Validation of Processes. Validation
is the process of proving your
Critical Control Points, or CCP, of
your Hazard Analysis of Critical Control
Points, or HACCP, plan is valid
and true.
To do this, plants will need to
retain meat scientists on staff or hire
an outside company to validate all
HACCP plans the company uses. This
“idea” is directly opposite to currently
accepted HACCP practices.
At the present time, we can use
proven scientific studies from government
research facilities to validate our
HACCP processes.
For example, it has been proven
many times by the scientific community,
the lethality stage for Escherichia
coli O157:H7 is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, according to government
policy, this may not be a valid
CCP in my HACCP program, and I
may need to hire an outside company
to validate this process.
Small establishments do not have
the capital and resources to initiate a