AMI urges USDA to revise non-intact beef risk assessment

The American Meat Institute (AMI) has urged the USDA to revise the agency's assessment for non-intact (tenderised) beef in light of a new analysis of food borne illness outbreaks linked to tenderised products.

In a letter to the agency, AMI said it had has conducted a review of available information regarding illness-related recalls linked to mechanically tenderised beef products.

''From this review AMI has determined that all of the recalls due to outbreaks were related to the consumption of marinated or enhanced steak products,'' said AMI vice president of Food Safety and Inspection Services Scott Goltry.

AMI recently posted a new fact sheet about tenderised meat products and clarified that there are two types of tenderized products: those that are blade tenderised only and that those that are marinated by needle injection or tumbling.

Marinated or enhancement solution-added products were not differentiated in the 2002 risk assessment. That is, the types of steak products that have caused illnesses have not been addressed in the agency's risk assessment, Goltry noted.

''It is an imperative that the process of manufacturing beef steaks be understood so that the risk assessment of mechanically tenderised beef steaks is meaningful and both benefits public health and provides useful information to the regulated industry,'' Goltry said.

As the marinated or enhanced mechanically tenderised products account for a small portion of the entire beef steak production volume, a more focused approach will more likely help the agency and the industry work collectively to prevent illnesses associated with such products, he said.