LR sign slaps poultry industry

Billboard sponsor irresponsible, chicken group responds

This billboard that went up Wednesday near Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field targets Tyson Foods Inc. and the poultry industry in general for what critics claim are unsanitary and unsafe food-production practices.
This billboard that went up Wednesday near Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field targets Tyson Foods Inc. and the poultry industry in general for what critics claim are unsanitary and unsafe food-production practices.

A new billboard put in place Wednesday in Little Rock targets Tyson Foods Inc. and the poultry industry in general for what critics claim are unsanitary and unsafe food-production practices.

The billboard near Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport asks “what is Tyson hiding” and refers passers-by to a website, FecalSoup.org, which outlines what industry critics claim are unsafe and unsanitary practices at poultry processing plants. The website is maintained by a group called Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

In particular, the critics take issue with a practice they describe as soaking the skinned carcasses in chilled water, even with fecal material still visible on the carcasses.

“We just want people to be aware of the potential problems with chickens,” said Jeanne Stuart McVey, a spokesman for the Physicians Committee. “We were struck by the fact that the carcasses soaked in the contaminated water for up to an hour.”

McVey said she is disappointed that Arkansas’ U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford declined to join many of his colleagues in urging stricter standards for the industry. Through a spokesman, Crawford declined comment. He is a founding member and co-chair of the Congressional Chicken Caucus.

A Tyson spokesman referred inquiries about poultry processing and handling to the National Chicken Council, an industry trade group with headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Tom Super, vice president for communications at the National Chicken Council, said the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine often threatens to put up such billboards but does not follow through.

“If it is, in fact, erected, this is just the latest misleading attempt by this group,” he said. “They’re neither physicians, nor responsible.”

Mark Kennedy, director of legal affairs for Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said the organization has been looking at the issue of contaminated chicken over the past two years. The organization sent people to stores to buy chickens, which then were sent to a laboratory for analysis. The tests, he said, found that about half of the chicken from any store, of any brand, showed evidence of fecal bacteria.

“We don’t think consumers want to eat that stuff,” he said. The production lines, he said, move too fast and inspectors are “few and far between.”

Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the industry want to get as much chicken through the production lines as possible, Kennedy said, “but we think there should be full disclosure.” Kennedy said his group has approached the USDA and the chicken caucus, encouraging them to disclose to consumers what they are buying, or to at least clarify safe handling practices.

Super said the committee tested only for the generic form of E.coli, not for the more serious form, 0157:H7, a toxin-producing bacteria that causes intestinal disease in people that lasts for about a week. Symptoms include diarrhea with blood and, in severe cases, kidney problems that can be life-threatening for children and the elderly, according to the Center for Food Security and Public Health.

Super called the effort by the physicians group “the latest misleading attempt by a vegan advocacy group to scare consumers in hopes of advancing their goal of a meat-free society.” He added that all chicken produced in the U.S. is monitored and inspected by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Poultry plant inspections, he said, include “fecal checks” to assure than no visible fecal material is entering the chiller during processing.

“As part of their food safety systems, chicken plants conduct dozens of tests, inspections and other interventions, both before and after the chiller, to reduce any potential bacteria on products as much as possible,” he said.

Super said the Physician Committee’s findings were not peer-reviewed and were drawn from very small sample sizes.

Business, Pages 27 on 07/04/2013

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