US tightens lax food safety policies
Still smarting from criticisms over its handling of a large ground beef recall this summer, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said it is to begin randomly testing for E-coli at all US meatpacking plants.
The policy reverses a 1998 directive that allowed some plants to be exempt from such tests and gives the agency greater authority to shut down packing plants where contamination is found.
The news came just days after a congressional audit said the public could still be made ill by tainted meat because the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service had been lax in its enforcement of health and safety regulations.
