USDA agency rejects plea from plant-based-diet group for coronavirus testing and reporting by meatpackers

The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture has denied a petition from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which advocates plant-based diets, asking FSIS to make meatpackers test their products for the novel coronavirus; report infections of workers, their families and FSIS inspectors; and label meat to warn consumers that meatpacking workers have been infected by the virus “and this product has not been certified virus-free.”

FSIS told the group that it hadn't shown people could get the virus from meat, and based on available information, "it seems unlikely" that it "can be transmitted through food." The agency also said it didn't have the authority to take some of the requested actions, and that those actions "would not contribute to FSIS’s public health mission to ensure that meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and properly marked, labeled and packaged."

The agency added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have developed interim guidance for meat and poultry workers and employers. . . . Many of the measures, such as increasing frequency of cleaning and disinfection and providing face masks and/or face shields to employees, would also prevent any potential spread" of the virus to meat products.

China recently blocked imports of meat from three plants in Brazil, citing infection of workers, but there is speculation in Brazil that the Chinese have other reasons and the pandemic is just an excuse.