PeterS

What could possibly go wrong here???

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-to-give-more-power-over-meat-inspections-to-pork-industry

The Trump administration plans to give much of the responsibility for pig safety inspections to the pork industry, cutting the number of federal inspectors by about 40 percent, The Washington Post reports. The shift will replace federal inspectors, who are responsible for identifying diseased and contaminated pork, with production plant employees. The decision, which could take effect as early as May, comes after the Federal Aviation Administration gave Boeing control over safety tests for jets later involved in two fatal crashes. These delegation efforts are part of the Trump administration’s broader goal to reduce regulations.

Under the proposed new inspection system, there would be no limits on slaughter-line speeds. Pat Basu, the chief veterinarian with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service from 2016 to 2018, refused to sign off on the new pork system. “Look at the FAA. It took a year or so before the crashes happened,” Basu said. “This could pass and everything could be OK for a while, until some disease is missed and we have an outbreak all over the country.”

Kevyn

Bringing us back to the “good old days” before that Pesky Upton Sinclair published The Jungle and brought about all those pesky regulations on food sanitation to the meat industry. What part of “let the buyer beware” don’t you get? If enough children are poisoned by one company’s bad food people will just buy from another source and the market will correct the problem. Who needs independent inspection when you have a free market?

TommyRadd Loc: Midwest USA

You mean policing themselves like the Obama-Clinton cabal (Eric Fast-And-Furious Holder, Loretta Tarmac Lynch, Lois IRS-attack-dog Lerner, etc) policed themselves ?

Yes that’s outrageous! Let’s have it your way with yuge government oversight like China, the old USSR and Venezuela instead of people learning how to be responsible! Why, we can just give the government 70% of everything we make and all we’ll have to worry about is whether they decide a medical procedure we need is in the country’s best interest or not. And if course, we’d love to sacrifice ourselves when they decide against our personal best interests, won’t we?
/sarcasm

TommyRadd Loc: Midwest USA

Oops, hit the wrong button. Sorry

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Actually over here the policing on things like this isn't all that great...

Lots of payoffs and lazy inspectors...

The netizens have become excellent at calling out incidents of graft and poor oversight... But still a long way to go...

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

It makes sense. The millions of pounds of recalled food products in the last 6 months, along with the multiple E. Coli and Listeria infections, definitely proves that we're headed in the right direction and that the food industry is perfectly capable of spending millions out of their own profits to ensure a safe food supply.

Lonewolf

You think those recalls were because the industry police themselves
Usda Inspections caught it

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

I was being facetious.

currahee506

Government doing anything will always be inefficient and expensive.

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

T***hfully, I don't even want to know the "acceptable" amounts of fly and mouse scat, etc., the USDA says are already allowed in "approved" food stuffs. No, no, no, no!

Buzzer

Buzzer

The DOT Inspectors responsible for pipeline fabrication and operation have 90% of their salaries paid by the oil company operators, and look at what a "great " job they are doing. I believe there is a similar setup for the NRC. Why would you think that the deregulation of the food industry would be a good thing except for corrupt politicians.
Do not ever assume that the Federal government has the best interests of the American people as its primary goal!