Mississippi Meat Plants Often Cited for Food Safety Violations

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports that more than two dozen Mississippi slaughterhouses and poultry meat processing plants have violated sanitation or food safety guidelines over the past decade – and most did both.

The newspaper analyzed records from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service database of enforcement action against federally inspected facilities. It says that 50 such facilities owned by 35 companies have racked up 69 violations resulting in 31 enforcement actions.

The newspaper says the largest company total was 12 violations and five enforcement actions against Peco Foods of Tuscaloosa, Ala., which owns four slaughterhouses and a processing plant in Mississippi.

Peco’s food safety director, Curtis Stell, says most were caused by incomplete paperwork. He says it’s been more than six years since the last enforcement action.