Poultry Times
June 18, 2012 Volume 59, Number 13 www.poultrytimes.net
Poultry facilities awarded for safety PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council has recognized 68 chicken and turkey facilities for outstanding safety performance through the implementation of innovative and effective safety and health programs. The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council consists of members from U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation. The annual safety awards
were presented during the 2012 National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry held in Ponte Vedra, Fla. John Starkey, president of U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, commented, “The industry recognizes that our people are our most valuable asset, and worker safety efforts have never been stronger. Poultry companies continue to devote people, time and other resources to actively identify and correct workplace hazards. These
awards acknowledge excellent safety performance achievement through effective and innovative programs.” “I not only commend these plants and their management teams for their tremendous efforts to protect their workers, but for their ongoing dedication to further progress,” added Mike Brown, National Chicken Council president. “The significant and consistent decline in illness and injury rates among our workforce over the
past two decades is a direct result of their strong commitment to worker safety.” “The poultry industry has been diligent in reducing recordable injuries and illnesses for nearly 30 years,” said NTF president, Joel Brandenberger. “These awards acknowledge the excellent safety performance achievements the poultry industry has accomplished. We hope by
See Awards, Page 9
The Associated Press
Industry backs modernizations of inspections
ATLANTA — A mysterious and scattered outbreak of the E. coli bacteria is linked to 14 illnesses and one death, health officials say. No form of contaminated food or other cause has been identified in the illnesses, which occurred in April and May, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of June 8, three people were hospitalized. One — a child in the New Orleans area — has died. The reported illnesses were spread across six states. Georgia had five cases, Louisiana four, Alabama two, and Tennessee, Florida and California each had one. E. coli is a large family of bacteria and most strains are harmless. The most deadly strain is considered E. coli O157:H7, which became well-known in the early 1990s through a deadly outbreak associated with hamburger meat.
WASHINGTON — “The National Chicken Council and our members believe a statistically valid, scientifically-based approach to poultry processing will improve food safety and better protect public health,” according to comments filed on May 29 by NCC in response to a USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) proposed poultry inspection rule (Docket No. FSIS-2011-0012; Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection). In 1997, FSIS reported that studies by the National Academy of Sciences, the General Accounting Office and the agency “have established the need for fundamental change in the meat and poultry inspection program.”To better and more efficiently protect the public from foodborne illness, these reports recommended that “FSIS should reduce its reliance on organoleptic inspection and shift to prevention-oriented inspection systems based on risk assessment.” To this end, NCC supports efforts to modernize the poultry slaughter inspection system to more closely reflect Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles by focusing inspection on food safety outcomes.
E. coli outbreak investigated in six states
See E. coli, Page 5
Photo by David B. Strickland
Friend of Agriculture: Mike Giles, left, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation, was recently presented with the “Friend of Agriculture” award during the 2012 Hall County Agribusiness Awards presentation in Gainesville, Ga. Abit Massey, GPF president emeritus, introduced Giles as this year’s recipient. The annual awards are sponsored by the Hall County Cooperative Extension and the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.
See Inspections, Page 8