Several initiatives portend greater attention to violative residues.
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service continually revises the National Residue Program to enhance its risk-based public health focus. Last year the FSIS instructed its field veterinarians to test for residues in cattle that have postmortem signs of illness or disease, a change that could lead to an increase in the number of identified residue violations. When this type of approach was adopted by a veterinarian at a plant in Pennsylvania, the number of residue violations in that plant rose dramatically. Now the FSIS is collecting data from market cow slaughter operations across the country to ensure that the agency's residue control program is being implemented correctly and uniformly. The FSIS is making additional changes in the National Residue Program.