Letters.

• Position: Letter to the Editor

Food Fight

I read with great interest your article "Beef Wars" (January/February 2001). Clearly, the deadly strain of E. coli that is found in meat and other foods has claimed many victims, both among the consuming public and in the meat industry itself. There are no easy answers to eliminating this hazard from the food supply, though there are many steps along the food chain where improvements are needed.

"Beef Wars" challenged the effectiveness of the government's sampling program for the deadly E. coli bacteria and, instead, called for rigorous testing at many points along the processing line. While that sampling program may be imperfect, it is a huge improvement over the "don't look, don't tell" policy in place before the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. At that time, there was no mandatory microbial testing of any kind in the meat and poultry industries. Random testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the most important tool available to identify and remove potentially deadly meat from the market.

The authors wrongly say that consumer organizations reject consumer education--"the best weapon we've got"--as a solution. Nothing could be further from the truth. We and other consumer groups vigorously support tough government programs--and the authority to recall tainted products from the marketplace--along with educational efforts. The Center for Science in the Public Interest and other consumer groups urged USDA to put safe handling information on all packages of fresh meat and poultry, a move that was challenged in court by several food industry trade associations. Unfortunately, the authors of your article made bold--but untrue--assertions and never contacted the leading consumer organizations to set the record straight.

CAROLINE SMITH DEWAAL DIRECTOR OF FOOD SAFETY Center for Science in the Public Interest Washington, D. C. Flunking Bubba

I was surprised you gave Clinton an "A" on economic policy ("The Clinton Scorecard," December 2000). It was indeed an excellent economy in the 1990s but certainly not his doing. The current boom started about a year and a half before he smooth-talked his way into the Oval Office and began eight years of claiming credit for the miracles of the private sector, the computer revolution, and the end of the Cold War.

Clinton said "the era of big government is over," and deserves some praise for accepting Republican ideas (welfare reform, Greenspan, free trade, some deregulation). But he often...