January 4, 2010

 

Ammonia treatment for US beef falls into disrepute

 

 

Failure to eliminate E. coli from beef and issues with odour and contamination has now given the USDA-recognised ammonia treatment a poor reputation.

 

South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. came up with the ammonia treatment eight years ago, with a study commissioned by the company showing that the process could kill E. coli as well as salmonella.

 

Officials at the USDA endorsed the company's ammonia treatment, saying it destroys E. coli "to an undetectable level." The method was so trusted that Beef Products was exempted from routine testing of meat used in hamburger sold to the public.

 

Since then, the company's processed beef became widely used by giant fast food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King, and by the federal school lunch programme. But data obtained by The New York Times revealed that E. coli and salmonella have been detected dozens of times in Beef Products meat - E. coli three times and salmonella 48 times since 2005, including back-to-back incidents in August in which two 27,000-pound batches were found to be contaminated. The meat was caught before reaching lunch-rooms trays.

 

In response, the USDA said it was revoking Beef Products' exemption from routine testing and conducting a review of the company's operations and research. The department said it was also reversing its policy for handling Beef Products during pathogen outbreaks.

 

School lunch officials, who had doubts about the effectiveness of ammonia treatment, required that Beef Products meat be tested. Testing results were worse than many of the programme's two dozen other suppliers, which use traditional meat processing methods. From 2005 to 2009, Beef Products had a rate of 36 positive salmonella results per 1,000 tests, compared to a rate of nine positive results per 1,000 tests for other suppliers. Despite so, the programme continues to use Beef Products because of its substantially lower price which helps save about US$1 million per year.

 

E. coli outbreaks nationwide have increased in recent years, although no outbreak so far has been tied to Beef Products.

 

The company maintains that its ammonia process remains effective. It said it tests samples of each batch it ships to customers and has found E. coli in only 0.06% of the samples in 2009.

 

Poor safely effectiveness was not the only problem with ammonia treatment, with taste and smell also an issue. A sufficient amount of ammonia could kill pathogens, but the change in the smell and taste of the beef led to complaints, prompting the use of less ammonia.

 

Beef Products admitted to lowering the alkalinity, saying it had submitted new research to the USDA to prove the effectiveness of the lower-alkalinity treatment. The study is currently under review.

 

When the ammonia method was first endorsed, a number of USDA scientists were concerned that the treated beef was approved for sale without obtaining independent validation of the potential safety risk. As suppliers of national restaurant chains and government-financed programs were buying Beef Product meat to use in ground beef, complaints about its pungent odour began to emerge.

 

In early 2003, officials in Georgia returned nearly 7,000 pounds to Beef Products, complaining of the odour despite the meat being frozen. Unaware that the meat was treated with ammonia -- since it was not on the label -- Georgia officials assumed it was accidentally contaminated and alerted the USDA. In their complaint, the officials noted that the level of ammonia in the beef was similar to levels found in contamination incidents involving chicken and milk that had sickened schoolchildren.

 

Beef Products said the ammonia did not pose a danger and would be diluted when its beef was mixed with other meat. The USDA accepted Beef Product's conclusion, but other customers had also complained about the smell.

 

On August 10, 2009, the Beef Products plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska, produced a batch of 26,880 pounds of processed beef that tested positive for E. coli. Six days later at the same plant, another 26,880-pound was found to have salmonella, according to government records.

 

This followed shortly after school lunch officials suspended a Kansas Beef Products plant for excessive salmonella. The main USDA was not notified of the suspension and the plant continued to supply other customers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has since directed school lunch officials to share information about their suspensions with the department's meat safety division.