Food testing industry booming

July 6, 1996
Web posted at: 6:15 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Carolyn O'Neil

(CNN) -- Consumer concern for improved meat safety is fueling another industry -- companies that develop and sell tests to detect bacteria in foods.

Whether it's salmonella, E. coli or listeria, there are plenty of bacteria hunters for the food industry. At a recent meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists, companies that provide the methods to detect bad bugs were out in force.

All the action at the meeting was really a reaction to what happened in 1993, when bacteria in undercooked hamburgers sold in the Pacific Northwest caused deaths and severe illness.

With some 2 million cases of food-borne illness in the United States each year, the meat and poultry industry has plenty of incentive to do a better and cleaner job.

"It's a very exciting time, a good time to be in the food microbiology toxicology safety area," says Pernendu Vasavada of the University of Wisconsin.

Food companies have been able to test for common pathogens for years, but now the tests are more automated, and can run a greater number of samples more efficiently and more accurately.

But perhaps the biggest improvement is speed. And speedier test results mean it takes less time to find out if food on its way to the market is safe, and less time to find out just how clean the processing plant really is.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to issue regulations requiring microbiological testing to help reduce pathogens in the meat supply. But Mike Robach, whose company produces chicken, says Continental Grain doesn't need a law to do it.

"We're implementing it right now," Robach says. "We didn't wait for USDA to mandate a program. We've gone out and implemented our own programs."

Other technologies being tested to improve the safety of the meat supply include irradiation, acid rinses and steam pasteurization -- processes designed to kill bacteria found on raw meats.

Related stories:

• Cooking safely outdoors presents challenge - July 5, 1996
• Is the government fighting food poisoning? - May 23, 1996
• Salmonella: Easily spread, easily prevented - May 23, 1996

Related sites:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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