WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
The Texas hamburger plant at
the center of a landmark
lawsuit challenging the U.S.
Agriculture Department's food
safety testing has flunked
another set of salmonella tests,
the USDA said on Wednesday.
Supreme Beef Processors Inc. won a key
victory last month when a federal judge
ruled that the USDA tests to detect
salmonella contamination at meat
processing plants were not a fair way to
determine if a plant is clean.
The Clinton administration, which plants to
appeal the court ruling, contends that the
food safety tests have dramatically cut
salmonella contamination on raw meat and
poultry by up to 50 percent in the past two
years.
Tom Billy, administrator of the USDA's
Food Safety and Inspection Service, said
new results show Supreme Beef failed its
fourth consecutive set of tests for
salmonella. The latest set of tests were
performed by regulators to determine if the
plant had changed procedures to make its
hamburger safer.
"If this were any other plant, FSIS would
immediately suspend inspection upon
learning that the corrective changes were
inadequate," Billy said in a statement.
"However, because of a federal district
court decision in Texas, we are precluded
from suspending inspection, which shuts
down the ground beef operations, even
though Supreme Beef has failed to meet a
food safety standard that other plants around
the country are required to meet," he said.
The government is asking Supreme Beef to
voluntarily shut its plant until it can pass
food safety tests, Billy said.
Supreme Beef, which grinds about 500,000
pounds of hamburger daily, has repeatedly
said that its plant produces safe food. The
company challenged the USDA, saying its
salmonella tests are arbitrary and an unfair
way to measure food safety.
The USDA salmonella tests allow a 7.5
percent rate of salmonella contamination in
ground beef, and higher levels in raw
chicken and turkey.
