Beef Plant Fails More Tests for Salmonella After Court Victory

WASHINGTON —  The Texas hamburger plant at the center of a landmark lawsuit challenging the U.S. Agriculture Department’s food safety testing has flunked another set of salmonella tests, the agency said Wednesday.

Supreme Beef Processors Inc. won a key victory last month when a federal judge ruled that the USDA tests to detect salmonella contamination at meat processing plants were not a fair way to determine if a plant is clean.

The Clinton administration, which plans to appeal the court ruling, contends that the food safety tests have cut salmonella contamination of raw meat and poultry by up to 50% in the last two years.

Tom Billy, administrator of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said new results show Supreme Beef failed its fourth consecutive set of tests for salmonella. The latest tests were performed by regulators to determine if the plant had changed procedures to make its hamburger safer.

“If this were any other plant, FSIS would immediately suspend inspection upon learning that the corrective changes were inadequate,” Billy said in a statement.

“However, because of a federal district court decision in Texas, we are precluded from suspending inspection, which shuts down the ground beef operations, even though Supreme Beef has failed to meet a food safety standard that other plants around the country are required to meet,” he said.

The government asked Supreme Beef to voluntarily shut its plant, but the firm refused.