Jolley & AssociatesChuck Jolley is president of Jolley & Associates, a marketing and public relations firm that concentrates on the food industry. He’s also president of the Meat Industry Hall of Fame, honoring the legendary figures of the business. He graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in broadcast journalism and was publisher of the leading business-to-business magazine serving the meat and poultry industry. He’s a frequent contributor of articles about agriculture and the meat and poultry industry to business-to-business magazines and web-based publications.
The very recent attacks on Beef Products Inc. by groups of well-intentioned but seriously misguided foodies is more proof that good science is too often trumped by manipulated public opinion. For those of you who don't know the company, BPI produces a boneless lean beef product from trim that is usually lost. Its primary uses are for hamburger patties, taco...
Last Friday, Dr. Betsy Booren, Director of Scientific Affairs at the American Meat Institute, received a long-awaited letter from the Food Safety Inspection Service. It had been five long years almost to the day since the AMI had petitioned them to "Recognize the Use of E-beam on Carcasses as a Processing Aid."AMI asked for official recognition of low dose, low...
Discussing the safety of the food we eat with Nancy Donley, president of STOP.Let me take a heavy and a ragged but deep breath here. This is not an easy subject to write about. Talking about it is even harder. This interview is about the needless death of children and I can think of nothing in life that's worse than...
A recent Bill Marler blog said "Mary Clare Jalonick of AP reports on the Vilsack/Hagen briefing that the Obama administration is aiming to prevent meat recalls by withholding meat and poultry products from grocery store shelves until government testing is complete."The Agriculture Department proposed rules Tuesday that would force companies to delay shipments to consumers until government inspectors have released...
U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong made her annual presentation to the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Committee on appropriations on March 2. Most of what she said to this group of U.S. House of Representatives could only thrill the policy wonks that make up the group's membership.Reading through Fong's prepared...
You probably haven't heard anything about this group of toxic chemicals for almost six years. Formed during combustion processes such as waste incineration, they're known to increase the likelihood of cancer after long-term low level exposure. At higher levels, dioxins can be disfiguring or deadly. It was six years ago that the world first saw a clear example of the...
I've been worrying over some of the provisions of this bill, especially since some of my friends in small production agriculture are so dead set against it. They believe that the food safety requirements are an onerous encroachment on our freedom to produce, purchase and eat anything we want."It will kill back yard gardens," they say. "It will make food...
Meat&Poultry magazine reported "AIB International on Sept. 23 issued a statement saying that while it conducted its GMP inspection in three of six in-shell egg grading/sorting facilities owned by Wright County Egg Co., Clarion, Iowa, it was not contracted to and did not inspect the other areas of the company's operations, including the feed milling operation, feed handling operation, hen...
Michael Sansolo was the chief honcho at the Food Marketing Institute for a long time before he left and joined forces with Kevin Coupe and MorningNewsBeat. He writes a column for that supermarket-oriented news and opinion service called "Sansolo Speaks." Recently his editorial comment was entitled "When Logic Fails" and one paragraph especially should be read by everyone in the...
I am a fan of the meat industry's efforts to identify and eliminate sources of foodborne illness. The work done to end the scourge of E. coli O157:H7 alone has tapped the best scientific minds around the world and cost millions of dollars. Processing plants have reconstructed their production lines, added costly but necessary kill steps, and changed the way...
Shouldn't we test for pathogens closer to where the public actually buys their meat and poultry?In one of his periodic Meatingplace.com blogs (subscription required). Dr. Richard Raymond made a statement about testing poultry parts for pathogens that is stunning in its simplicity. Politically speaking, though, it's potentially a 10.0 on the Richter scale. He wrote, "Deputy Mande wants something that...
Here is an easy case to make: The pursuit of E. coli O157:H7 and its total eradication has been the holy grail of the meat industry since at least the infamous 1993 Jack in the Box case. The industry has acknowledged millions have been spent in research and the in-plant installation of multiple, science-based 'hurdles' to prevent the bug from...
Stephanie Smith, the subject of a Pulitzer prize-winning story published by the New York Times after she became severely ill with an E. coli infection from a contaminated hamburger, has reached an undisclosed settlement with Cargill Inc.That might be good news but the size of the settlement will never be known. Was it a sizable chunk out of Cargill's massive...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says illnesses from E. coli O157:H7 fell to a five-year low in the U.S. last year. CDC attributed the improvement to a combination of government and industry efforts to curb contamination. The CDC has been tracking E. coli O157:H7 cases since the Jack in the Box incident in 1993 killed 4 children...
Ferd Hoefner, Policy Director, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), talks about S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. Part II: On traceability and recordkeeping, exemptions for small food facilities, and S. 510 in its current form.Q: Update me on the negotiations over Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) amendment to the traceability and recordkeeping section of the bill. What were the...
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