U.S. to list retailers getting recalled meat, poultry

By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Months after the biggest meat recall in U.S. history, the Agriculture Department said on Friday it will begin making public the names of retail stores that receive tainted products, but critics said the change does not go far enough to protect public health.

"We need this rule to reinstall confidence in the American public that we are in control here," Richard Raymond, the agriculture undersecretary who oversees USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, told reporters.

The new plan, which will go into effect before the end of August, would list retail stores only when there is a good chance a person will become ill or die by consuming the meat or poultry product, so-called Class I recalls. Other recall classes where there is a remote or no probability of illness would not be covered.

The push for a more open recall system gained momentum after USDA announced on February 17 that Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co was recalling 143 million lbs of meat, mostly beef. It was the largest meat recall in U.S. history.

Under Friday's announcement, the list of retailers that received meat in the Hallmark recall, which was categorized as one where there was a minimal risk to humans, would not have been made public.

Lawmakers and consumer groups welcomed the new USDA rule, but said it stopped short of fully protecting the public because it failed to cover all meat and poultry recalls.

"If a problem is serious enough to spark a recall, it is serious enough to give consumers all the information they need to avoid potentially dangerous products," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director at Food & Water Watch.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer defended USDA's decision to limit the release of retailers only to where the threat was the greatest to public health.