Zero tolerance (trade)

In food safety policy, a zero tolerance standard generally means that if a potentially dangerous substance (whether microbiological, chemical, or other) is present in or on a product, that product will be considered adulterated and unfit for human consumption.^[1]: 279

Fecal contamination[]

In the United States meat and poultry inspection program, "zero tolerance" usually refers to the USDA rule that permits no visible signs of fecal contamination (feces) on meat and poultry carcasses.^[1]: 279 USDA requires that any time such fecal contamination is detected, it must be removed from the carcass.^[1]: 272 At issue is how this rule has been applied and enforced by USDA in meat and poultry plants.^[1]: 272 For a number of years, poultry producers have been permitted to either rinse off or cut away such contamination, but beef producers have only been permitted to trim it with a knife—which they argue costs them money in lost product weight and imposes a requirement that poultry producers do not have to meet.^[1]: 272 The policy jargon for this debate is "wash versus trim".^[1]: 272 USDA early in 1997 clarified its zero tolerance rule for poultry; a year earlier it gave beef plants permission to use a new high-temperature vacuuming method to remove fecal contamination in lieu of cutting it off.^[1]: 272

References[]

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document: Jasper Womach. "Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition" (PDF).