Consumer Interest Organization Questions Privatization of Poultry Inspections

Based on documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) under the Freedom of Information Act, Food & Water Watch has
urged the agency not to expand its pilot HACCP-based inspection project,
contending that inspections conducted by poultry processing plant
employees miss many defects. While USDA hopes to expand the program,
claiming it will save the federal government $90 million and eliminate more
than 800 inspector positions over three years, Food & Water Watch asserts that
consumer health would be compromised by any such expansion.

According to the consumer watchdog, USDA’s pilot project, launched in
1998 and involving two dozen slaughter facilities, relies on untrained plant
employees to inspect carcasses for food safety and other consumer protection
issues. Many of the pilot plants have apparently been granted line speed
waivers and have sped up their lines to 200 birds per minute. In plants where
USDA inspectors still conduct conventional inspections, the plants operate at
line speeds of 35 birds per minute. Verification sampling of 20 to 80 birds per
slaughter line during an eight-hour shift under the pilot program reportedly
showed that the highest error rate involved contamination with feathers,
lungs, oil glands, trachea, and bile. Average error rates in this category were
64 percent in chicken facilities and 87 percent in turkey facilities. The data
also apparently showed no consistency across the industry and that “[t]he
overwhelming number of non-compliance records filed for the 14 plants was
for fecal contamination found on the carcasses” that had been missed by
company employees watching the line. See Food & Water Watch Press Release,
March 7, 2012.