A non-profit group with 12,000 members who are doctors has sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for allegedly ignoring their concerns over the fecal contamination of chicken and other meat.
The group known as The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed the lawsuit with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, April 16.
USDA Sued For Failure To Response
According to a press release from the PCRM, the USDA failed to respond to their complaints regarding the regulation of feces. The original petition was filed six years ago in 2013.
While the USDA reportedly has a zero tolerance policy on fecal contamination, this is allegedly limited to visible contamination and meat can pass inspection when the feces cannot be seen by the naked eye.
"We often see birds going down the line with intestines still attached, which are full of fecal contamination," a federal inspection had previously said, which the lawsuit and petition quoted. "If there is no fecal contamination on the bird's skin, however, we can do nothing to stop that bird from going down that line."
"It is more than reasonable to assume that once the bird gets into the chill tank (a large vat of cold water), that contamination will enter the water and contaminate all of the other carcasses in the chiller. That's why it is sometimes called 'fecal soup.'"
In the petition filed with the USDA in 2013, PCRM points out that consumers have the right to know about the details and processes behind food products labelled as "wholesome" by officials.
"USDA misleads consumers every time inspectors slap a 'wholesome' label on contaminated food," Deborah Dubow Press, Esq., lawsuit author and the PCRM associate general counsel, explains. "Consumers should be horrified to know that USDA's standard for wholesomeness is 'no visible feces.'"
USDA Responds To Lawsuit
Washington Post reports that the department issued a response to PCRM's allegations on the same day the lawsuit was filed. In the statement, USDA says they disagree with the assumption that products that have been inspected and deemed wholesome are likely to have fecal contamination.
According to USDA, visible feces on meat and poultry products are considered a food safety defect, but that it can be resolved by trimming the contaminated area as well as cleaning it using antibacterial chemicals.
Pathogen testing also occurs at critical points in the slaughter line, USDA adds, to make sure both visible and invisible fecal contamination are prevented.
"It's no surprise that the pseudo-medical animal rights group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine doesn't know the difference between fecal contamination and bacteria on meat products," KatieRose McCullough, the North American Meat Institute's director of regulatory and scientific affairs, tells Washington Post.
She adds that bacteria such as E.coli are often present in various types of food and even objects in regular life, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're contaminated with feces.
