Federal Government May Lower Poultry Inspection Stanadards

There are two sides to every coin. My friend Linda recently informed me that the government is trying to pass a law that will lower the inspection standards for poultry. I was not surprised, but was disappointed to discover that rather than protect the consumer, it's all about the bottom line. In an effort to save money and modernize poultry inspection, the FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) wants to make changes to the current inspection practices. They want to focus inspection resources on the areas of the poultry production system that pose the greatest risk to food safety. They estimate they will save the government $30 million per year by reducing the number of inspectors, and having them focus on one area, rather than inspect many areas. Much of the inspection under the proposed law will be done by employees of the chicken business. To me that sounds like having the fox guard the hen house. On the other side of the coin, watchdogs of consumer protection feel that privatizing food inspection will significantly reduce the quality of food. The proposed rule places emphasis on quantity and quickness over quality. The current process allows workers to look at 35 chickens per minute, while the new plan proposes looking at 175 chickens per minute, and also reduce the number of FSIS carcass inspectors to one per line. This will create less time for inspection as well as cut jobs among federal employees. The biggest problem for me is that privatization means that companies are inspecting their own products. They need impartial inspectors. Reports from many workers say that the speed of inspection now is quite fast, and with the repetitive motion of the inspection process, many workers have developed hand injuries. Increasing speed from 35 to 175 inspections per minute can only decrease quality. Yes, this law will save government and business money, but it will not improve the safety of our food. We should not decrease quality and safety just to improve our bottom line. My guess is that somewhere along the line, this bill will get attached to another bill (in other words, "buried.") The chicken farmers in Arkansas and elsewhere are behind this bill, so I would expect one of the states in which poultry farming is a big industry, will find a way to get it into law. I hope I'm wrong, but these tactics are becoming so predictable.