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• National Agricultural Law Center

Summary

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for inspecting most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and proper 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. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for ensuring the safety of virtually all other human foods, including seafood, and for animal drugs and feed ingredients. Debate has ensued for many decades over whether the meat and poultry inspection programs, which were first designed in the early 1900s, have kept pace with changes in the food production and marketing industries, and with perceived hazards, whether naturally occurring or intentionally caused by human intervention. For some time, food safety authorities have recognized that most foodborne illness cases traced to meat and poultry products were caused by naturally occurring microbiological contamination that was not being adequately addressed by the traditional, sight-, smell-, and touch-based system of inspection. Through the federal rule-making process under its existing authorities, FSIS in 1996 finalized a sweeping new Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system for implementation by federally inspected slaughtering and processing plants. Simply put, this means that for each point in the process where contamination could occur, called a "critical control point," the plant must have a contamination prevention plan, document it, and maintain records. Despite data suggesting HACCP-related reductions in pathogen levels, periodic recalls continue to illustrate the difficulty of preventing contamination, particularly in processed products. Other recent policy challenges have included FSIS's role in ensuring that livestock diseases such as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease") do not threaten human health; the adequacy of funding for inspection and who should provide it (i.e., industry, taxpayers, or both); whether changes are needed in the agency's enforcement authorities; ensuring that meat and poultry for human consumption are slaughtered humanely; and the overall effectiveness of the federal regulatory structure for food safety, which is spread among a number of agencies and departments, and which has taken on added responsibilities to protect the food supply against agroterrorism or other intentional contamination. Congress often is drawn into these policy debates, and has held hearings and/or considered legislation to address various aspects. Similar issues have arisen or are expected to arise during the 109th Congress. This report, which supersedes CRS Issue Brief IB10082, Meat and Poultry Inspection Issues, will be updated if significant developments ensue.

Related Reports:
• RL32922

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