DATE: Saturday, May 3, 1997                 TAG: 9705030448

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

HAM TAKES THE CURE PROCESSORS OF COUNTRY HAMS NOW MUST CHECK FOR BACTERIA.

For hundreds of years, the test for perfection in country-cured hams has been to plunge an ice pick through their tough skin and pepper coating - then take a whiff.

If the pungent odor of hardwood and smoke coats the pick, the ham passes inspection in most small meat processing plants and goes on its way to consumers.

That is changing, says James S. Groves, vice president of retail sales for Smithfield Ham and Products Co. and the new president of the National Country Ham Association.

Because of bacteria like E. coli and viruses like Mad Cow Disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is adding precautions, even for a product with a 2,000-year track record. It wants processors to move from the olfactory to the scientific.

Anne McGuigan, community relations officer for the USDA northeastern regional office, said that a serious outbreak of E. coli in Washington state prompted the changes.

President Clinton last July signed a bill calling for stricter testing procedures in all federally inspected meat packing plants.

``In country-cured meats, we still include the sensory inspections, but we're asking that those processors go along with the new procedures as well,'' McGuigan said.

The time-tested recipe of killing animals during the colder months, packing the meat in salt and, finally, smoking it until the skin turns into a protective covering has been unchanged for centuries, Groves said.

``I conjure this image of settlers moving west, and I see meat being cured in crude smokehouses,'' he said. ``We know they're doing this in Iowa and Missouri the same way we've been doing it here for centuries.''

Now Groves has an opportunity to be a bit of a pioneer himself as leader of the national association representing small ham processors in six states.

The association was formed in 1992, after USDA required nutritional labels for dry-cured meats like country hams and pork products. Several small companies joined to finance studies of ham's nutritional value.

Now, the meat packing industry has been confronted by new strains of viruses and bacteria.

``Our history of inspection has always been what we call a sensory inspection,'' Groves said. ``We based everything on how the products looked, smelled and felt. Spoilage has virtually been eliminated because we've done a good job.''

USDA started requiring more in January. ``We're moving toward a science-based inspection,'' Groves said. ``Now, the USDA wants us basically to prove cleanliness. They want us to do things like testing work surfaces for bacteria, things we've probably been doing all along, but now we have to keep records.''

Dry and salt-cured meats like country hams - which do not require refrigeration - are still a curiosity to some government regulatory agencies because the production of the product is based so much on tradition, Groves said.

``We'll probably even have to send samples out from time to time now,'' he said. ``We've always checked surfaces for cleanliness. Now, we'll have to break out a swab and check for the presence of pathogenic bacteria. We're now being asked to demonstrate the safety from disease of the product and packaging.''

Producers are required now to have a written processing procedure on file. They must identify potential hazards and critical check points in the processing procedure. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

MICHAEL KESTNER/The Virginian-Pilot

James S. Groves, of Smithfield Ham and Products Co., says curing

meat is an age-old process but inspecting it has gone high-tech.

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