LINCOLN, Neb. — IF, thanks to an experimental inspection program, a meatpacking firm produces as much as two tons a day of pork contaminated by fecal matter, urine, bile, hair, intestinal contents or diseased tissue, should that count as a success?

The agency responsible for enforcing food safety laws has not only approved this new inspection regime but is considering whether to roll it out across the pork-processing industry. Last month, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture said it wished to see if the pilot program “could be applied to additional establishments.”

The project dates back to 1993, when more than 500 Americans were made sick by E. coli traced to tainted hamburgers. In response, the industry’s largest trade association, the American Meat Institute, proposed a new system of microbiological testing in packinghouses as part of an inspection protocol known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. The approach resembles a system developed by NASA and Pillsbury for ensuring food safety aboard spaceflights.

The new program sounded good in theory, but existing systems mandated manual inspections of all carcasses by trained federal inspectors. The hazard analysis model would give meatpackers the leading role in inspections; the U.S.D.A. would be relegated to spot-checking selected carcasses. Some inspectors joked that H.A.C.C.P. stood for “Have a Cup of Coffee and Pray.”