USDA Poultry Inspections Could Get Streamlined, Saving $95 Million

WASHINGTON -- The Agriculture Department is proposing to reduce the number of government inspectors at poultry slaughter plants.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says about 1,000 government inspector jobs at poultry plants would be phased out as companies take over the job of looking for visual flaws like bruises in chickens on the processing line.

Vilsack says the move will shift inspectors to jobs more important to food safety, like sampling for pathogens and keeping conditions sanitary.

The secretary says the move could save the government as much as $95 million in the first three years.

The chicken industry supports the plan. Consumer group Food and Water Watch opposes it, saying it gives poultry producers too much control over inspections.

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Comments

[Tater Salad]

04:57 PM on 01/23/2012

What the cluck!

[msotonyc262999]

12:25 PM on 01/24/2012

That's great. More opportunity for these companies to NOT follow the rules. No one to see if they are. Makes tons of sense!

[Tater Salad]

12:29 PM on 01/24/2012

All the more reason to buy local where you can see what they do.

[YoureSoShain]

01:37 PM on 01/23/2012

Oh yeah, I trust corporations who's primary function it is to make money to invest in regulatory safeguards they resisted from the federal government.

[saythisword]

10:49 AM on 01/23/2012

Sure, this makes sense-- because the poultry industry is so ethical and well-regulated already! Ugh.

[bobbgil]

09:07 AM on 01/23/2012

I NEVER buy a chicken in the store.Buy them from the farms where they run free.

[DavidMG]

08:29 AM on 01/23/2012

Another reason to give up meat> For 21 reasons take a look at http://www.healthyhighways.com/21reasons.shtml

[cyoohoos]

07:25 PM on 01/23/2012

Hi David, I gave up meat this year and after about 2 weeks I actually FELT better. Fanned and Faved.

[faithva]

08:03 AM on 01/23/2012

Every commentor on this board has clearly pointed out the absurdity of allowing the poultry companies to self-inspect. The fox in the hen house analogy comes to mind, as does the comparison with letting the banks police themselves. I've spent years weaning my family off beef because of health and costs, and now it's poultry that we have to give up? Fish prices have soured through the roof. Well, vegan lifestyles are not totally without merit. When everyone starts eating endless amounts of beans, that could be interesting ........

[Still kickin]

09:41 AM on 01/23/2012

LOL

[itsjules]

04:56 PM on 01/23/2012

Just think, if we could harness all the methane gas produced (about 1/3 of people's...er...gas-passing results contain methane), we'd be free from oil dependence in no time!

Don't Go Green. Go Bean! ;-)

[faithva]

08:04 PM on 01/23/2012

Funny -- F & F

[gypsysailor]

12:55 AM on 01/23/2012

Quit the poultry inspections and I will quit eating chicken unless I or my neighbors raise them.

[capraekway]

11:07 PM on 01/22/2012

I don't care if they inspect it or not. I'm not buying any of that factory farmed voodoo food anyway. Yuk.

[tokyomary]

07:55 PM on 01/22/2012

Cause we can always trust the companies to have our best interests at heart. Riiight....

[helenindenver]

06:32 AM on 01/22/2012

Why I crossed over to (mostly) veganism last October. Watch "Forks Over Knives" and "Food Inc."
'Nuff said.

[wesnwendy]

09:02 AM on 01/23/2012

Amen!

[thebigbike]

01:16 AM on 01/22/2012

well I guess I'll be continuing to phase out my consumption of industrially produced poultry.

[Y2KCockroach]

11:07 PM on 01/21/2012

H5N1 (a subtype of "bird flu") is currently at serious risk of becoming a pandemic. It is a strain of avian flu. This is the kind of thing that inspections are supposed to address.

All we need is one pandemic outbreak (like the "bird flu" of a few years ago) to show the folly of this proposal. The resulting deaths, global economic dislocation and industry-specific financial losses will make the proposed $95 million in savings mean nothing.

Asking the poultry industry to conduct legitimate inspections is like asking Goldman Sachs to oversee financial regulation on Wall Street....

[Grada3784]

10:45 PM on 01/21/2012

So with food poisoning on the increase, Ag wants to cut back inspections? It may save Ag 96 million dollars, but how much will it cost to health care and, more importantly, lives?

[MyResponsibility]

11:12 PM on 01/22/2012

pretty sure bruises don't cause illness. What is being reduced is the inspectors who are fulfilling non safety inspection service, that which produces Grade A finished product, which is determined by lack of bruises and flaws. Such product is self policed by most facilities today because it is a higher grade, or higher value (higher profit).

[SAMUEL MCKINLEY]

11:05 AM on 02/12/2012

My Responsibility is incorrect, the cuts are to be made in the Food Safety and Inspection Service, not to State Graders. It is easy to understand his error because the USDA mentioned bruises as a ruse to cover the reality that although Congress mandates bird-by-bird inspection, the new plan is for the company to *sort* (what Inspectors now do by Federal mandate) the carcasses and then a USDA Inspector would look at what the company employee set aside for condemnation to see if their call was correct.

[SAMUEL MCKINLEY]

11:17 AM on 02/12/2012

To be completely fair, a maximum of two USDA Inspectors will remain per line. The Maestro System for example operates at a line speed of 144 birds per minute therefore the USDA Inspector would have less than one second to assess the disposition of a carcass. If that system gets the maximum number of USDA Inspectors.

[AcesHighSays]

09:45 PM on 01/21/2012

The lobbyists...

[unique]

09:14 PM on 01/21/2012

Reducing Inspections will work well until
there is an outbreak and people start to
die. Do you really think the Government
will take responsibilty for those deaths.
TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO
CONTINUE POULTRY INSPECTIONS.