Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 2/13/14


Food and Water Watch sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking him to look into staffing deficiencies at the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the latest shot across the bow in the public debate about proposed new inspection rules for poultry plants.

“We believe that the USDA has put food safety in jeopardy by this reckless personnel policy,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “This policy was hatched so the agency could implement its 'filthy chicken rule,' which deregulates poultry inspections—a move so fraught with controversy that it has yet to be finalized. What the USDA has done is put the entire meat and poultry inspection system on the brink of collapse.”

At issue is a hiring policy intended to hire more temporary meat and poultry inspectors instead of full-time permanent inspectors, which was put in place in May 2012, soon after the comment period closed on the proposed poultry inspection rule. Because the new rules could eliminate about 800 inspection jobs, hiring temporary inspectors would help facilitate the transition to the new rules when and if they are made final.

FSIS Administrator Alfred Almanza told Meatingplace the numbers don’t really support FWW’s claims that the vacancy rate is too high. He also noted USDA currently has about 200 temporary inspectors out of over 7,000 inspectors across the country.

“I started as food inspector,” said Almanza. “Does anybody really believe I would do anything to harm ability of our food inspectors to do their jobs?”

The letter isn’t FWW’s only recent tactic. In a new video featuring television actress Rashida Jones among others, FWW uses humor and satire in an attempt to discredit the poultry industry.

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