USDA PROBING GROUPS' CONTENTION OF BONE

JOANNA RAMEY

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture here is reviewing complaints by consumer watchdogs that bone fragments and marrow are making their way into ground beef that's mechanically separated from the bone.

However, while USDA officials have agreed to study the means by which ground beef is tested for the presence of bone matter, the agency said it isn't planning on changing the entire regulation governing mechanically separated meat.

Rather, Food Safety and Inspection Service administrator Michael Taylor has ordered that a directive be released in coming weeks to federal meat inspectors that officially implements a year-old regulation governing the meat separation process.

According to the USDA regulation, bones separated from meat must be left "essentially intact and not ground, crushed or pulverized."

Consumer advocates claim that significant amounts of bone and marrow consistently make their way into the final product, even after the last step in the process, which involves straining the meat.

These groups, led by the National Consumers League, base their claims on two university studies that found higher levels of fat and cholesterol in meat that is mechanically deboned -- studies the meat industry challenges on the basis that the machinery used wasn't up to commercial standards.

The studies also found higher levels of iron in the meat, further indication of the presence of marrow.

The consumers league has been pressing the deboning issue since 1974 when it successfully went to court to require companies to label meat that is mechanically separated. That rule changed as meat separating machinery improved, leading the USDA to drop the labeling requirement if the mechanical deboning process mirrors that of hand deboning.

"We think the regulation is still valid," an FSIS spokeswoman said of the year-old automatic deboning regulation. But, in a nod to consumer groups concerns, USDA officials also said they will study whether it's valid to allow calcium testing be conducted in the meat at the final stage of processing.