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Summary:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) must
inspect most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and labeling.
Federal inspectors or their state counterparts are present at all times in virtually all slaughter
plants and for at least part of each day in establishments that further process meat and poultry
products. Debate has ensued for decades over whether this system, first designed in the early
1900s, has kept pace with changes in the food production and marketing industries.
Several significant changes in meat and poultry inspection programs were included in the 2008
farm bill (P.L. 110-246), signed into law in June 2008. These include permitting some stateinspected
meat and poultry products to enter interstate commerce, just like USDA-inspected
products; bringing catfish under mandatory USDA inspection; requiring an inspected
establishment to notify USDA if it believes that an adulterated or misbranded product has entered
commerce; and requiring establishments to prepare and maintain written recall plans. USDA?s
implementation of these provisions in 2009 is likely to be an oversight item for the 111th
Congress. The following are among other recent inspection issues that could received continued
attention in the 111th Congress, which also could consider broader legislation to reform food
safety programs?including those of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which
oversees all foods other than meat and poultry. (Among the more sweeping options has been a
proposal to consolidate federal food safety responsibilities, including those of FSIS, under a
single, independent food agency.)
Is enough being done to address longstanding concerns about naturally occurring
microbiological contamination? In 1996, FSIS added a sweeping new system known as Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)?essentially plant-specific contamination
prevention plans?on top of the traditional ?sight-, smell-, and touch-based? inspection system.
However, large recalls due to pathogen problems are still occurring, and significant declines in
the incidence of major foodborne pathogens have not occurred in recent years, according to
government data. Past proposals to delineate pathogen performance standards and/or safe
tolerance levels could again be offered.
Should USDA have new authority to mandate recalls of suspect meat and poultry products, as
advocates have requested? FSIS now relies on the establishments to recall adulterated products
but asserts that this approach, along with other enforcement tools, is sufficient to protect
consumers. Those wanting mandatory recall authority also contend that an improved ability to
trace animals, meat, and poultry products should be built into the system to make recalls more
effective.
Does FSIS have adequate funding and resources, and/or should industry pay more for
inspection? FSIS inspection is mainly funded through USDA?s annual appropriation. Congress
has denied successive Administrations? proposals for new user fees. Separately, Congress slowed
FSIS?s implementation of a controversial new ?risk based inspection system? (RBIS, now being
retooled as the ?Public Health Based Inspection System?) aimed at shifting some existing FSIS
resources from processing plants and products that pose relatively lower safety risks to others
posing relatively higher risks.
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