By Tina Caparella
Over the years, the Pacific Coast Renderers Association (PCRA) has recognized and honored many leaders for their dedication to the industry. This year, PCRA acknowledged two more notable individuals who will be saying goodbye as they retire after many years of service.
Dr. Gary Pearl, president, Fats and Proteins Research Foundation, and Lothar Lehmann, Sacramento Rendering Company, were awarded for their selfless commitment to the industry at the association’s convention dinner in late February. Their wives, Sandy Pearl and Jeanne Lehmann, were also honored for their support.
“We honor both Gary and Lothar on the threshold of their retirement as each of them has made significant footprints on our industry,” praised Doug Anderson, chairman, National Renderers Association (NRA).
PCRA got their annual convention underway with a California legislative update from Rich Matteis, California Grain and Feed Association. He pointed out that $255 million was spent on the state election last November and not one seat changed parties. Matteis said that after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed an interceptor grease bill last fall, Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) reintroduced a similar bill this year. In response, the industry has introduced Assembly Bill 1065.
“It has upset Mr. Frommer that we have this bill,” Matteis commented. One area of focus is ensuring that California’s grease theft program remains under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Some legislators want the program moved to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Matteis discussed other proposed state legislation, including a spill prevention bill that substantially increases penalties for spills from vehicles and a biodiesel bill that pertains to state and public utility vehicles not required to be retrofitted for air emission purposes unless those technologies are approved for that purpose. He said there is a bigger effort to move the state forward with some type of biodiesel blend requirement.
One concern that has risen is information presented by CDFA at a poultry health symposium in California on disease risk for poultry operations using the services of renderers.
“Their conclusions were you’re seven times more likely to be infected with a disease if you use the services of a renderer than if you don’t,” explained Matteis. “That’s some fairly significant data. A lot of it has to do with truck washing and biosecurity and those kinds of things, but I wanted you to know that information is out there.” Several renderers in attendance questioned the validity of the statistics and vowed to investigate CDFA’s claim.
Matteis also informed attendees that the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board is undertaking a new enforcement effort, which they say is not regulatory, that has to do with processed water from processing operations, including solids that are considered by-products.
“Some folks at the board would like to declare all solids that come from canneries, feed plants, and renderers as industrial waste, which of course we object to,” he commented. At a hearing in late January, a list of food processing sites was presented that included renderers. Matteis added that the board is concerned about contamination of ground water, but they have little evidence or data that there is a problem.
“They’re moving ahead with an aggressive regulatory enforcement effort to enforce existing law so folks may be calling on you in this area,” he stated. Matteis encouraged renderers to educate state agencies about rendering because of their lack of knowledge about the industry and the consistent turnover of employees.
Gary Conover, Western United Dairymen, discussed California’s diary industry, which also must continually inform state agencies about their industry.
“We spend most of our resources trying to educate people that are either coming in as an elected official or staff to those individuals, letting them know what our industry is all about,” said Conover. “They really don’t know how milk gets into the bottle.” He remarked that herds in California are increasing in size due to smaller dairy farmers not being able to meet environmental laws so those animals are being absorbed into larger operations. Conover explained that the average dairy herd in California is 900 cows, comparing it to Wisconsin’s average herd of 100 cows, and that livestock slaughter in 2004 was down 495,000 from 2003 because downer cows must now go to renderers instead of slaughter. He noted that above average rainfall in Southern California this winter has led to a 30 percent increase in cow and calf mortality, with a cumulative loss in the dairy industry of about $40 million and climbing.
Conover warned about three pieces of legislation introduced by Senator Dean Florez (D-Fresno) targeting animal agriculture – Senate Bills 863, 926, and 931 – that need to be watched, and emphasized that the agriculture industry needs to develop a collaboration with other groups, such as consumer groups, unions, animal and environmental organizations that aren’t too radical, and other agriculture groups.
“As we say in our business, we find strength in unity,” he stated. “We need to ban together and get things done.”
Dr. Dennis Thompson, CDFA, noted that much of his agency’s work the past year has involved biodiesel.
“We’re getting 15 to 25 calls a month…it’s a hot topic,” he remarked. Calls come from companies that want to produce biodiesel for sale, companies that want to produce the fuel for company vehicles only, and individuals who want to make it for their own personal use.
“There’s a tremendous amount of zealousness,” Thompson said. CDFA has examined the state law and has implied it in this way: those producing biodiesel for commercial purposes to sell and those producing biodiesel for use in business vehicles must be licensed as renderers; those producing the fuel for personal use don’t need to be licensed as renderers but are required to register with CDFA as a grease hauler.
Thompson commented that CDFA assisted a California renderer in their defense against a lawsuit brought on by a county. The agency and the Agriculture Commodities Commission ultimately determined the renderer was in full compliance with state and federal law. He then noted that CDFA was contacted a while back by Department of Homeland Security personnel regarding testing feed for possible adulteration, but the agency has not been contacted further.
“I know the last thing you really want is more government involvement,” Thompson stated. “As you know, a lot of people are looking at the rendering industry with a very critical eye and you want to be proactive about preventing as much damage to your industry as you can.” He wrapped up his discussion by explaining that CDFA recently received accolades from the governor’s office for being a “model state agency” in California government.
Dr. Paul Ugstad, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, addressed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), asking why there is so much concern. He pointed out that although the World Organization for Animal Health, also known as the OIE, shows the U.S. BSE case discovered in late 2003 as a Canadian imported animal and not as a U.S. case, international trade does not agree. Under the current USDA expanded BSE surveillance testing program, 29,323 samples had been collected in California as of late February: 28,014 at rendering facilities; 1,218 at slaughter; 89 at laboratories; one at a state slaughter facility; and one on a farm.
“I want to thank all of you people that are participating in this program,” Ugstad said. “From a market perspective, it’s working very, very well.” To put BSE in perspective as it relates to diseases that afflict humans, Ugstad noted there are typically 300 deaths annually just in California from tuberculosis and up to 3,900 deaths annually nationwide from foodborne illnesses, with health costs estimated from $6.5 billion to $34.9 billion annually.
“Not to say that the BSE surveillance program doesn’t need to be done from an economic and political stand-point, but if you’re talking about a public health significance, it’s hard to argue that one,” remarked Ugstad.
Dr. Don Franco, Center for Biosecurity, Food Safety, and Public Health, attributed the reason the United States does not have BSE to USDA’s preventive controls put in place from the onset of the disease being discovered in the United Kingdom.
“We’re not lucky, we’re not blessed, we just did it from day one,” Franco commented. “It’s the most over-blown disease in the history of regulatory medicine.” He then changed subjects to globalization, focusing on China.
“One person in six on this planet is Chinese,” Franco stated. “China realized over the years that globalization is the greatest economic event of this era and they wanted to play an active part in it.”
Dr. Gary Pearl took the podium next, giving renderers a very basic “take home” message: “Rendering is essential to public health.” He said the industry’s audience has changed, that many students in university agriculture programs today are not traditional “farm kids” but come from urban areas, many are women, and most are interested in small/companion animals.
“Those students do not have the same perception about what ought to be fed to companion animals as students of the past,” Pearl noted. “We must communicate effectively that rendering is in fact essential to food animal production and public health.” He stressed that the industry needs to foster research to protect current uses of rendered products and develop new ones, enhance research relationships with international rendering institutes, and continue to enhance the collaboration with public research institutions, particularly USDA.
“Research has to be a viable part of the industry’s future,” Pearl stated.
Doug Anderson said there are only a few companies within the U.S. and Canadian rendering industries that are not members of NRA. He emphasized that industry consolidation is going to continue and in order to get the “biggest bang for our buck” the industry must be involved, telling its story properly and to the correct audience.
“We’ve been in a defense mode forever,” he remarked. “We’ve got to become offensive as we move forward. We’ve got a great story to tell and only by telling that story day in and day out are we going to get the people to understand where we are, where we’re going, and where we’ve been.”
Anderson mentioned that the Department of Homeland Security has made the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responsible for mass disposal of a problem with deadstock, whether as a result of disease or terrorism. He stressed that the industry must begin discussions with EPA with regards to regulations and the industry’s role in such a situation.
Jim Collin, chief consultant to California’s Assembly Committee on Agriculture, provided an insightful look at the state’s legislative arena and process. He said the turnover at the staff level in the California legislature is 50 percent and compared the legislative bodies to classrooms – some bright students, some not so bright students, some comedians, etc. Collin encouraged renderers to visit their representative, establish a relationship, and to get acquainted with the representative’s office staff.
Humphry Koch, West Coast Reduction, updated the situation in Canada, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA’s) proposed changes to the existing feed ban. With the discovery of three cases of BSE in Canada and one in the United States in a Canadian born animal, CFIA is proposing to require the removal of specified risk material-derived meat and bone meal from all animal feed, including non-ruminant feed, and revise the current list of exemptions (see “International Report,” February 2005 Render). This decision was based on the recommendations of an international panel and CFIA’s concerns over accidental mixing on farms.
The proposal would also require SRMs to be handled separately from non-prohibited material, something Koch said Canadian renderers are already partially doing for marketing purposes.
“In order for us to sell our poultry meal, our fish meal, and our porcine meal, we have to produce it in separate facilities, in dedicated facilities,” Koch said. “If we didn’t, people wouldn’t buy it.” Attendees were astonished to hear the great lengths West Coast Reduction is taking to separate their material, including trucking ruminant material from Vancouver, BC, Canada, 700 miles over the Canadian Rockies daily to a dedicated processing plant in Calgary. Koch said the Canadian Renderers Association has submitted comments to CFIA’s proposal (see “International Report,” page 54).
Tom Cook, president, NRA, discussed USDA’s successful BSE surveillance program, which should reach the goal of testing 268,500 cattle before its target date of May 31, 2005. The question then will be at what level the program will continue once that goal is reached. Cook stated that even though USDA has budgeted for future testing of 40,000 cattle on an annual basis, certain groups might want to continue at the current rate of testing.
“Because to some people out there, no matter what we’re doing, they’re still convinced that we [the United States] have BSE and we’ve got to keep testing at this rate until we find another case,” Cook noted. He pointed out that 47 percent of samples have been collected from renderers and 32 percent have been collected from plants that process dead, dying, diseased, and downer cattle.
Cook said the industry is still waiting for a proposed rule on possible changes to the U.S. feed ban, and that NRA is ensuring that any definition of biodiesel for tax incentives, credits, use, etc., includes animal fats and yellow grease. With regards to exports, prior to 2004, about 25 percent of meat and bone meal produced in the United States was exported; in 2004, that number dropped to 3.9 percent.
“We’re trying to get those markets back,” Cook commented. Currently, NRA has 52 member companies, plus one new member that is currently being reviewed, and represents all but one red meat processing company. Cook reminded all that the NRA Congressional Fly-In this year, which is June 13-15, 2005, is important because of the new Congress.
PCRA wrapped up the convention with their business meeting, where member companies were encouraged to join the California Grain and Feed Association in support of all the work that Matteis has done for the association, and seven rendering companies donated a total of $17,000 to NRA’s International Market Development Committee.
The next convention is February 23-26, 2006, in Carmel, CA.
April 2005 Render