Consumer Law

Beef recall, lack of inspectors leads to cutting corners

By Nick Slade

In another prime example of how the minute the government forgets that it is supposed to be acting for the benefit of we the people, and starts trusting that corporations will watch out for our best interests, we get the beef recall of 143 million pounds from a California meatpacker accused of sending lame “downer” cows to slaughter. The reason meat packers aren’t supposed to send “downer” to slaughter is to prevent diseases like mad cow disease, E. coli and salmonella from being transferred to we the people.

An article by the Associated Press reports that the ranks of inspectors are so thin that slaughterhouse workers often figure out when “surprise” visits are about to take place, and make sure they are on their best behavior. Sometimes, government inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hundreds of animals at once, looking for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis.

The USDA has 7,800 inspectors covering 6,200 federally inspected establishments, 900 of which slaughter livestock, but anywhere from between 10 and 12 percent of inspector and veterinarian positions at poultry, beef and pork slaughterhouses nationwide were vacant between October 2006 and September 2007.

Full post as published by Caveat Emptor on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).