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WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department is thinking about holding back the names of retailers where tainted meat went for sale if there is no extreme health risk involved.

That means the requirement that retailers be made public wouldn't apply in recalls deemed less dangerous — like the 143 million pounds of meat recalled from a Southern California slaughterhouse last month.

The potential change comes as the Agriculture Department works to finalize a two-year-old proposed rule that, as originally drafted, would have made retailers' names public during all meat recalls.

The agency is under pressure from the food industry, which opposes naming retailers during recalls.