Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 4/7/11

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed to the North American Meat Processors Association this morning that all front-line inspectors and all enforcement, investigations and analysis officers (EIAOs) have been deemed “essential employees” and will continue to work if the federal government shuts down at midnight Friday, NAMP said in a press release.

Most other management personnel are not deemed essential and would not report to work, NAMP said.
Budget impasses are looking more likely to force the federal government to shut down by the end of the week.

Industry pressed the White House to deem inspectors essential to prevent closures of thousands of plants, which cannot legally operate without federal inspection. In previous government closures inspectors also were deemed essential, according to the American Meat Institute.

Some 3.7 million people face work stoppage and the industry was looking at loss of $3 billion in economic activity per day, economist John Dunham of John Dunham and Associates has calculated, according to AMI.

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