Industry News Update

Current Association Issues – March 17, 2008

Department of Health & Human Services Responds to NRA Letter

FDA Commissioner, Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach sent a response to NRA’s January 30 letter addressed to Secretary Leavitt, Secretary Shafer, Ambassador Schwab, and Director Nussle which was co-signed by 11 other livestock and meat groups regarding FDA’s proposed additional restrictions in the Feed Rule. He said: …the rule is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FDA is working closely with OMB and other agencies in the Federal government, including the United States Department of Agriculture, to carefully analyze all of the ramifications of proceeding with a final rule. Please be assured that no decision will be made until the agency has completed a thoughtful and complete analysis of all relevant information including the concerns that you have expressed in your letter. FDA is committed to making science-based decisions that are in the best interest of public health protection.”

New NRA Website
Please update your web browser bookmarks for the new NRA website: http://www.nationalrenderers.org

Rendering Code of Practice—Momentum Continues
We are very proud of these leading companies—check out the list of certified plants:
http://nationalrenderers.org/biosecurity/code/certified_plants. We have 73 plants certified to date!

Regulation

OSHA Reissues its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is reissuing its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (NEP) Instruction. The NEP will increase enforcement activities and focus on specific industry groups that have experienced frequent combustible dust incidents. The purpose of this NEP is to inspect facilities that create or handle combustible dusts which can cause intense burning or other fire hazards when suspended in air, and can lead to explosions. Combustible dusts are finely ground organic or metal particles, fibers, fines, chips, chunks, flakes, or small mixtures of these materials. Types of dusts include, but are not limited to, metal (aluminum and magnesium), wood, plastic, biosolids, organic (sugar, paper, soap and dried blood), and dusts from certain textiles. Combustible dusts can be found in the agricultural, chemical, textile, forest and furniture products, wastewater treatment, metal processing, paper products, pharmaceutical and recycling operations (metal, paper and plastic) industries. A news release is here:
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=15032

OSHA also has a new website, the Combustible Dust Safety and Health Topics page, here:
www.osha.gov/dsg/combustibledust/index.html.

Various stakeholders have pushed for action after the latest disaster suspected of being started by a dust explosion, the Port Wentworth, GA. Imperial Sugar plant blast and fire last month. As of yesterday, three burn patients were in serious condition and eight others were in critical condition; and four have died.

The Ozone Final Rule

EPA announced the final rule on March 12 and Administrator Stephen Johnson stated it is the most stringent standard ever for ozone. He said he will soon sign the Clean Diesel and Locomotive rule and this too will enhance clean air and environmental protection. He pointed out that since 1980, ozone levels are down by 20%. The regulation signed today was compelled by the Clean Air Act and scientific data on ozone health. Ozone health impacts are more severe than originally thought. The ozone standard has been strengthened from 0.084 ppm to 0.075 ppm. The secondary standard in form and level is identical to the primary standard. The Administrator noted that 36 communities still have ozone levels higher than the 1997 standard and 8 communities missed the legal deadline for filing SIPs. Mr. Johnson also indicated that current data suggests that 345 counties with monitors will not meet the new standard. However, nonattainment designations will be made in 2010. States will then have 3 years to file SIPs, and depending on the severity of their nonattainment, will have as long as 20 years to comply. He noted that he received hundreds of letters from governors, state officials and citizens asking him to take into account the cost of meeting a new standard. The Clean Air Act prohibits the Administrator from considering costs. Mr. Johnson stated that it was time to modernize the Clean Air Act. During the first 20 years of the Act, it was updated to reflect changes in technology and science. He offered 4 principles to update the Clean Air Act:

The Act should protect public health
The Act should allow decision makers to consider costs
The Act should provide accountability and enforcement requirements to make sure standards are met
The Act should allow the schedule to be driven by science

The final rule is 312 pages long and can be found here:
http://epa.gov/groundlevelozone/actions.html

FSIS Issues Notices on Humane Handling Practices

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued two new notices: Notice 16-08, Humane Handling Activities and Documentation in Livestock Slaughter Establishments, and Notice 17-08, Increased Verification of Humane Handling Requirements in Livestock Slaughter Establishments. Inspectors are to document Humane Activities Tracking System (HATS) activities, and the notice includes a new bullet that reads, “Immediately take any necessary regulatory control action to prevent continued egregious inhumane handling” for situations where there are egregious humane handling noncompliances. In addition, inspectors in livestock slaughter establishments are to increase significantly the time spent verifying humane handling regulatory requirements and document those verification activities in HATS. Inspection personnel are to increase their HATS activities a minimum of 50 percent and up to 100 percent, depending on the type of livestock being slaughtered. Increased HATS activities will continue until May 6, 2008. The notices are available here:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/FSIS_Notices_Index/index.asp

Meetings

APPI Seminar 2008-Dallas, TX, May 14-15, 2008

Don’t miss this meeting. It will be our best seminar to date, and will help position renderers to respond to the challenges of the day including traceability demands, compliance expectations, product safety and quality issues, recall responsibilities, HACCP, and plant security issues, among others. Please click on this link to register on-line for the APPI Seminar:
http://appi-seminar.nationalrenderers.org/

The seminar will be $300 for early registration, and room costs are a group rate of $219.00 per night (plus tax). You should only need one night because we’ll start at 12:30 pm May 14th and end at 12:30 pm May 15th, 2008.

AFIA’s Feed Industry Institute

This meeting is held every two years, and will take place on June 16-19, 2008 in Chicago at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare-Airport Hotel. This short-course is geared for feed and feed ingredient professionals interested in expanding their knowledge of the industry. The conference features representatives of all segments of the feed industry addressing timely issues and providing insight to a variety of course material. For more information, contact Jarrod Kersey at jkersey@afia.org or call the American Feed Industry Association office at (703)524-0810.

Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit

This meeting will address the most critical issues in animal welfare today. The day and a half conference will be held April 8-9 at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. This year’s theme will be Animal Welfare: Building Bridges Across the Food Chain. Topics include:

Animal Welfare’s Impact on the Future of Food Retail;
Meeting Restaurant and Retailer Expectations;
Legislation, Regulation and Government Initiatives;
Legislation’s Unintended Consequences;
International Animal Welfare Regulation and Their Potential Impact on Trade; and
The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production.

Information is available here: http://www.animalagalliance.org.

Other Issues

Hallmark/Westland a “Perfect Storm” for Activists

The Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. recall of 143 million pounds of beef prompted by an animal rights group’s videotaped footage of workers abusing non-ambulatory dairy cows amounted to a “perfect storm” for the anti-meat movement, said Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs for the American Meat Institute. “It truly was a perfect storm in animal welfare because not only was there horrible footage — and visuals obviously sell in our media-driven world — but [Hallmark/Westland] was also a school lunch supplier…” Riley described communication challenges facing the meat industry:

Uninformed consumers are highly suggestible
Available images of good practices are few and far between
Reporters are generally unfamiliar with the industry
Technologies such as YouTube help proliferate images
Access to meat plants is restricted

A news story on her very good presentation can be found here:
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=20006

FSIS Under Fire on Job Performance

A hearing on the fiscal 2009 budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) amounted to a sweeping performance review in a timeframe marked by record meat recalls: first the Topps Meat Co. recall over Escherichia coli O157:H7 in September 2007, and then the recent Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. recall of 143 million pounds.

Revelations from those recalls led House agricultural appropriations subcommittee chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.) to conclude, “I believe FSIS does not have a handle on what’s actually going on in these plants.” As part of the March 6 hearing, FSIS faced a demand from subcommittee vice chairman Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D., N.Y.) to turn over a list of companies that distributed meat for retail sale, a demand that would make it easier for consumers to know if they had purchased meat that was later recalled. In the past, USDA’s policy has protected the disclosure of names of retail establishments, viewing the information as proprietary business information. However, the California government has already published an online list of many establishments that sold meat from the Chino, Cal., Westland plant, it was noted at the hearing.

Click here for the full story.

Critics Make Leap from Animal Welfare to BSE

Critics have taken the opportunity to make a tenuous connection from the Hallmark animal welfare incident to BSE and use the incident as a forum to criticize the level of BSE testing by USDA. A news story can be found here:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_madcow13.3aa6f37.html

Vatican Issues New List of Deadly Sins

Original list:

Lust
Anger
Pride
Sloth
Envy
Gluttony
Greed

New List:

Environmental pollution
Genetic manipulation
Accumulating excessive wealth
Inflicting poverty
Drug trafficking and consumption
Morally debatable experiments
Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

News stories can be found here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL109602320080310 or here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7287071.stm

EU May Import Genetically Modified Corn

To help poultry and livestock farmers secure extra supply of raw material to feed their animals, EU regulators are likely to approve imports of a genetically modified (GM) maize type this month. A story is here:
http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/id2205-40427/eu_may_import_gm_maize_for_poultry_feed.html

Maryland Professors Unveil Enzyme for Cellulosic Ethanol

Researchers at the University of Maryland have unveiled a new biomass-to-ethanol process that takes advantage of a bacteria found in the Chesapeake Bay two decades ago. Enzymes produced by the bacteria, which was found breaking down bay grass, can also digest cellulose in other plant matter, a key step in the ethanol production process. A story can be found here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080310/md_biomass_ethanol.html?.v=1

Chickens are not Livestock – Humane Slaughter Act Not Applicable

According to a U.S. judge, chickens are not “livestock” and are therefore not subject to the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. A lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) against the Agriculture Department has argued that the USDA had misinterpreted the 50-year-old Act. While there is no specific federal humane slaughter statute for poultry, the poultry industry has widely adopted and employed equally effective voluntary methods.

A news story is here:
http://www.worldpoultry.net/home/id2205-39965/chicken_are_not_livestock__humane_slaughter_not_applicable.html

Introduction of Cloned Animals Concerns Interest Groups

The US Center for Food Safety (CFS) has issued a statement supporting legislation being introduced at federal and state level to protect consumers against an unregulated introduction of cloned animals, their offspring, and resulting products into the food chain. In particular, the CFS is urging Congress to pass an amendment to the Farm Bill, the Mikulski-Spector Amendment (HR4855). This bill requires a moratorium on the introduction of meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring into the food chain until there has been comprehensive testing on the potential long-term affects on human health.

A story is here:
http://www.meatprocess.com/news/ng.asp?n=83882&m=2MPE317&c=naetztutwzxeodw

USDA Identifies Renewable Fuels Efforts

USDA Secretary Ed Schafer announced several renewable fuel initiatives at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. He pledged USDA to pursue the following:

Produce or save 682 million kilowatt hours of energy in fiscal 2008 while assisting more than 1,000 rural small businesses, and creating or saving more than 2,800 jobs in rural communities.
Develop new markets, including waste-to-energy applications, for woody biomass.
Expand the use of switchgrass as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock and provide engineering assistance to construct anaerobic digesters.
Increase demand for biobased products.

A news story is here:
http://domesticfuel.com/2008/03/09/usda-energy-grant-announcements/

Correction of Item in March 5 Edition  

In the item about meat production, the quote from Joel Greene should have been “… the 93 billion pounds of poultry and red meat expected to be produced in 2008….”—not 93 million.  

Past Issues of Industry News Update