Gillibrand Applauds USDA For Setting New Standards For Ground Beef Purchased For Schools

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the first New Yorker to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years, today applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) completion of tough new food safety standards for ground beef purchased by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) for federal food and nutrition assistance programs, including school lunches. The USDA initiative came at the urging of Senator Gillibrand after she wrote the USDA in December calling for better standards.

"This is the right thing to do to protect our children from dangerous food-borne illnesses, and I applaud the USDA's action," Senator Gillibrand. "In America, in 2010, it is unconscionable that food can ever go straight to our kitchens, school cafeterias and restaurants without being properly tested to ensure its safety. We need better food safety standards, not just in our schools, but across the board, to protect all of our families."

In February, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a series of initiatives to improve the safety of food purchased for school lunch and nutrition assistance programs. The newly completed standards announced today are the result of a joint review by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) that has been ongoing since the February announcement and will apply to AMS ground beef contracts awarded after July 1, 2010.

In addition to continuing a zero tolerance for E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, the new AMS standards will: (1) tighten microbiological testing protocols; (2) tighten the microbiological upper specification and critical limits; (3) increase microbiological sampling frequency for finished products to every 15 minutes; and, (4) institute additional rejection criteria for source trimmings used to manufacture AMS purchased ground beef. AMS will also consider any vendor classified by FSIS as having a long term poor safety record as an ineligible vendor until a complete cause-and-effect analysis is completed.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has begun its review of AMS ground beef purchase requirements. NAS brings together experts in all areas of science to provide an independent review of the program. The review is focused on three major areas: 1) a thorough evaluation of the scientific validity of current technical requirements and methods; 2) to benchmark those processes and methods against recognized industry leading programs, which supply product directly to consumers through retail sales or food service operations; and 3) provide recommendations to AMS on how to perform future periodic evaluations against industry recognized best practices.

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