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Well, it's been another frightful few weeks for us Americans. We've been bombarded, just like late last year, with food safety cautions, including getting rid of Peter Pan peanut butter that could be contaminated with salmonella and Kraft's Oscar Meyer chicken products that could be tainted with Listeria.

This issue hits me close at home. Over the years growing up, I suffered food poisoning from eating out. One time, it hit every member of my family. The culprit: steak subs from our local diner. Believe me, it wasn't a pretty sight.

While food contamination that affects fruits and vegetables, as well as peanut butter, is becoming a more frequent occurrence, chicken and beef, as well as other meat products have always been targeted for carrying food-borne pathogens.

That's why the U.S. Department of Agriculture is attempting to do more about it. The government agency reported today that it is kicking off a “risk-based” inspection program for foods vulnerable to viral and bacterial infections.

Food plants that process chicken and beef will be “more intensely inspected,” a move that should have taken place a long time ago. Oddly enough, slaughterhouses will be governed under the current, much less strict rules.

It's apparent that the FDA and the USDA need to put their heads together and set up a foolproof plan for making sure our local food produce and meat are safe enough for us to consume from field to fork. Is it too much to ask for meat already vulnerable to viral or bacterial infections never to make it to the processing plant in the first place?

The program will reach 5,300 processing plants by 2008.

The other thing that worries me is that some meats that are “intact” will be tested less frequently, because they are “almost never” linked to infections. And I ask, why?

Food Safety Stocks: Testing for Disease

If the USDA and the FDA are established entities meant to protect us, they should do so all across the board, and not just halfway. Forgive me for maybe being a bit naïve but, I never thought peanut butter could be infected? Did you?

It doesn't matter what form the food is in, or what it is. If it is grown, fed, raised, killed, plucked, pulled, or manufactured for human consumption, it should be tested.

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That's why I'm extremely bullish on one certain micro-cap company that offers the “gold standard” in food testing, and will no doubt profit from increased testing of our food supply.

This company, Neogen Corp. (NEOG:NASDAQ) operates not only nationally, but internationally. With over 200 diagnostic tests, many handheld and easy to use by local farmers, the company has contracts with the USDA for E. coli testing.

Not only will NEOG profit from increased government mandates to test our food supply, but local farmers who want to protect both their customers and their reputations can easily purchase the company's handheld testers and receive results in less than an hour.

NEOG has risen steadily in a rising trend since the most recent spout of food-borne illnesses. This company is bound to profit from governmental intervention and mandate, testing by individual farmers, and even both.

Food Safety Stocks: A Penny Micro-Cap Stock to Watch

Sometimes food illnesses are caused by either packaging problems, expired food, or consumer fault. I recently came across another micro-cap stock pick that deals in food packaging that can extend the freshness of food and keep it from being infected by surrounding foods, heat, or leakage.

This other food safety stock is Thermafreeze Product (TFZP:NASDAQ). It's extremely low-priced at only eight cents per share. But it could be a company that will receive new orders from companies more conscious of keeping their food fresh for consumers.

TFZP's product called ThermaGard® is actually a variation on a material used to manage temperature in lunar modules and space suits. The ThermaGard® product can be used with food that needs to be packed frozen, chilled, or kept fresh over long distances.

More importantly, TFZP's Supasorb™ is very much like the pads that soak in the juices from meat and poultry that you buy in Styrofoam at the grocery store. But this product has a Total Liquid Disposal System that absorbs and retains liquids in the meat, instead of letting the meat sit unhygienically in its own juices. It also prevents rewrapping which can cause food-borne pathogens to enter the meat through contact.

While the company is extremely small right now, and I don't suggest investing in it today like Neogen Corp., I would definitely put it on your watch list, to see if it gains in stock price and exposure during the ongoing food safety battle.

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Related Articles:
Food Safety Stocks: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found 288 cases linked to food-borne illnesses resulting from peanut butter consumption.
Increased Food Safety Awareness: The pursuit for across-the-board food safety regulatory practices continues… this time on the side of the consumer.
A Small-Cap Food Testing Stock: As food safety regulations sit on the top of the FDA's to-do list, this stock will continue to provide and improve its on-site food safety testing systems, keeping its contracts intact and its profits improving.

Related Resources:
A New “Risk-Based” Inspection Plan: New inspections to start in April at food plants vulnerable to bacteria. - USA Today
Enhancing the quality of life: Up-to-date news on meat safety. - USDA
Food Health and Safety: Learn more about the current outbreak associated with peanut butter. - Centers for Disease Control