By the Numbers

—According to senior officials at FSIS, the U.S. meat production industry has undergone such rapid growth, the government is having a difficult time competing with the private sector to hire entry-level personnel (GS-5 level) to conduct in-plant line inspections under the supervision of a veterinarian. The government presently claims to have only one-third the number of applicants that they used to get. As a result of the personnel shortage, production line speeds in hard hit areas like Western Kansas have had to be reduced by 10-20%. Applicants for work as meat inspectors are requested to call USDA92s Recruitment & Examining Unit in Minneapolis (612-370-2000) if they are interested in applying for work.

—The U.S. consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently petitioned the federal government to officially ban the use of the carcinogen potassium bromate, which the FDA has urged the bakery industry to voluntarily quit using since the early 1990s. The CSPI did so after recent FDA tests of 17 types of rolls and buns found more than half contained levels of potassium bromate higher than the limit experts advise.

—According to Atlanta, Georgia-based Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., the June 1999 health scare which resulted in the European recall of over 17 million cases of Coca-Cola beverages cost the company upwards of $103 million—far higher than the initial $60 million prediction. The scare, in which at least 249 people in Belgium became ill after drinking products containing allegedly tainted carbon dioxide, resulted in a ban of all Coca-Cola beverages by several European nations.

—According to the Associated Press, vendors in northern India recently poured 17,000 gallons of milk into a local river to protest a government crackdown launched after traces of fertilizer, paint and other potentially toxic chemicals were found in milk samples. Police in Uttar Pradesh state reportedly began arresting milk sellers last month when it was discovered that milk vendors were illegally adulterating their milk with these substances in order to increase profits.

—A study published in the June 24, 1999 New England Journal of Medicine by a group headed by Alice Lichtenstein of the USDA Nutrition Center at Tufts University concluded that harder processed fats such as stick margarine cause blood cholesterol levels to rise more than softer tub margarine, and should be avoided by individuals with moderately high to high cholesterol levels. The Lichtenstein study based its recommendation on findings that the harder products contain more trans fatty acids than the soft one. Last month the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers (NAMM) countered with figures of its own which showed that trans fat “makes up only 2.6%, or 5.3 grams, of the average daily diet,” and of that amount, margarine contributes less than one gram of trans fat, or eight calories. Moreover, additional information from a new NAMM report, “Margarine Nutrient Consumption Trends,” shows that in fact the consumption of total fat and trans fat from margarine has been significantly reduced in the past decade, so that 40% less fat, 59% less trans fat, and 37% less saturated fat are being consumed.