Source: Julie Larson Bricher, MEATINGPLACE, 4/8/19


In a pull-no-punches press release today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) refuted numerous points made in an April 3 Washington Post article about the agency's proposed hog inspection rule.

The article, "Pork industry soon will have more power over meat inspections," reported that the Administration will reduce federal inspection staff at pork plants by 40 percent and replace them with hog plant-trained employees as early as next month.

The article also noted that there would be no limits on slaughter line speeds in hog plants and called into question USDA's figures on reduced worker injuries in a trial program that uses the faster line speeds.

In the press release, FSIS stated that it is "appalled" at the newspaper’s "poor attempt" in covering the proposal to modernize inspection of swine establishments.

"Shame on you, Washington Post. This story earns you at least four Pinocchios," FSIS wrote.

Statements draw ire, fire
The article's headline alone raised the agency's ire: "First, by law only federal inspectors do meat inspections," USDA responded. 

"Also by law, only federal inspectors can apply the USDA mark of inspection, which consumers rely on to know their meat is safe. 

To imply otherwise is sloppy, inaccurate and reckless."

And while FSIS did not directly counter the Post's assertion that a final rule would begin implementation in May, the agency took issue with the reporting on several other statements in the article, including:
• The Post article states that USDA would be, “…cutting the number of federal inspectors by about 40 percent and replacing them with plant employees.”

FSIS responded that it is not reducing the total number of federal inspectors by 40 percent and is not replacing inspection personnel with plant employees that will conduct inspections. "FSIS will make inspection staff determinations on a case-by-case basis to ensure that 100 percent inspection and other critical public health activities are carried out,” the agency stated.

Should the proposed rule become final, FSIS said, federal inspectors "won’t be performing quality assurance tasks. Instead, they would be able to focus on critically important activities."
• The Post article states, “Under the proposed new inspection system, the responsibility for identifying diseased and contaminated pork would be shared with plant employees…”

The agency termed this statement in the article as "false," arguing that under both the proposal and traditional inspection, establishment employees sort market hogs before FSIS inspection. "They also may choose to not present some animals for FSIS inspection," FSIS wrote. "This is consistent with current policy for establishments under traditional inspection. It’s important to understand that under the proposal, establishment employees will not conduct inspections and they will not condemn animals."
• The Post article states, “The new pork inspection system would accelerate the federal government’s move toward delegating inspections to the livestock industry.”

Calling this statement "false no matter how many times The Washington Post writes it," the agency reiterated that only federal inspectors do meat inspections and under the proposed rule. "FSIS inspectors would continue to conduct 100 percent ante-mortem inspection and 100 percent carcass-by-carcass inspection at post-mortem," according to the press release.
• The Post article also stated, “However, USDA officials confirmed they have no plans under the new system to test for salmonella — for which the USDA once tested. The agency will rely heavily on pathogen testing by plant owners, but those results will not have to be publicly disclosed."

FSIS refuted this statement, saying that the discontinuation of its salmonella verification sampling program for market hogs (carcasses) in 2011 was done "because we were finding very low rates of salmonella on whole carcasses." The proposed rule removes the carcass salmonella performance standards for market because the little-used standards were not being verified due to the low rates of salmonella on whole carcasses, FSIS stated.

"What is true is that FSIS is currently testing pork cuts and other pork products (different from whole carcasses) for salmonella and will decide in 2019 whether to develop new pathogen performance standards for these products or take other actions to address salmonella in these products," the agency wrote.

Read the full FSIS press release here.

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