
DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710050056

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CURT ANDERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ACCOMAC, VA.                      LENGTH:   99 lines

POULTRY PLANTS USE NEW TACTICS TO COMBAT DANGEROUS BACTERIA

One by one, the 330,800 chickens processed at the Perdue Farms plant here every day are sprayed with chlorine, part of the latest effort to reduce harmful bacteria that can sicken people.

The birds - once killed and hanging upside down - are jet-sprayed inside and out, then tossed into a huge tub that chills them to a temperature of 40 degrees or less, hindering the growth of microbes.

The men and women who package the chickens and parts after they emerge must wear parkas and gloves. The plant is kept so cold, the workers' breath comes out in steamy plumes.

These weapons - chlorine and cold, coupled with increased microbiological testing - represent the meat and poultry industry's new front line in the war to control bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.

``There's a great deal of change,'' said Jim Perdue, chairman of the nation's second-largest chicken company, founded by his grandfather a few miles up the Atlantic coast in Salisbury, Md. ``It's going to continue to boost consumer confidence.''

Still, there are no guarantees. Even as big plants nationwide move toward such systems, a Hudson Foods Co. plant in Nebraska with a similar system was unable this summer to prevent some tainted ground beef from getting into the marketplace. Eventually, 25 million pounds were recalled because of possible contamination.

For most of this century, meat and poultry safety depended upon sight-and-smell inspections by the 7,500 Agriculture Department officials who work in plants. At a poultry plant, these inspectors look for discoloration and evidence in the chicken's innards of any disease or contamination. Questionable chickens are discarded.

Individual companies sometimes had more sophisticated systems, but there was no national anti-bacteria blueprint. And even the most sharp-eyed inspector can't see a microscopic organism.

Now, however, improved technology has enabled scientists to trace food illnesses to microbes that exist by the tens of billions in nature. E. coli, for example, comes in thousands of strains, only a few of which make people sick but which are carried by all kinds of animals, even humans.

``These are healthy animals. The animals harbor them, but they make people sick,'' said Dean Cliver, a food safety professor at the University of California at Davis.

The bacteria can get into chickens all kinds of ways, even from mice that come into chicken houses at night. And with upwards of 27,000 chickens living in close quarters for seven weeks or so in each house, the microbes often spread through manure.

``Dirt is dirty, and animals are messy,'' Cliver said.

By January 2000, all U.S. beef, pork and poultry plants will be required to have a new plan called a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system aimed squarely at reducing E. coli and salmonella. Larger plants like Perdue's in Accomac must have such plans in place by this January.

The USDA inspectors will remain - there are 32 at the Perdue plant - and they will still examine livestock carcasses as they whiz by on production lines. But now, the inspectors also will have more science-based ways to determine if companies are doing the right things to reduce contamination.

``We do the checks. We run the process,'' said Donnie Davis, plant manager at Accomac. ``They do the audit verification.''

For instance, back at the chlorine bird washer, Perdue workers must periodically read gauges to ensure that water pressure and volume are at proper levels. This data is checked by the in-plant USDA inspectors to make sure the system works.

Later down the line, random chicken samples are taken to labs to determine whether E. coli and salmonella are present and at what levels. USDA regulations permit the bacteria to be there in certain amounts, but the company would have to locate and fix problems if levels got too high.

The idea is to prevent contamination by checking key points in the plant instead of dealing with recalls after someone gets sick.

Perdue and other companies are also trying to figure out ways to prevent the introduction of bacteria in animals on the farm. Perdue now includes low doses of antibiotics in most feed and has required its farmers to eliminate a trough-style water system that made it easier for microbes to spread.

Still, there are no guarantees and no way to test every chicken or piece of meat. In fact, there are only two ways to completely destroy microbes on food: by cooking it properly or by exposing it to low-level radiation.

Although poultry companies are permitted to use irradiation to kill bacteria, few do. Clay Silas, head of research at Perdue, said most shoppers do not yet trust irradiated products even though there's no evidence of danger. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Workers at the Perdue Farms Inc. processing plant in Accomac, Va.,

prepare chickens. After a recent recall of 25 million pounds of

possibly contaminated ground beef, the meat and poultry industries

are adopting new methods to try to ensure safety. But, as the

recall showed, there are no guarantees.

Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Perdue Farms Inc. worker uses hot water to clean the inside of a

chicken at the processing plant in Accomac, Va., earlier this year.