03.04.2012

Poultry inspectors gathered outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday, to protest a proposal to expand an inspection system that shifts federal inspectors away from inspecting for quality defects and allows slaughter lines to speed up.
Under the proposed rule, the agency would transfer much of this quality-assurance task over to the poultry plants so that it can devote more of its employees to evaluating the companies' pathogen-prevention plans and bacteria-testing programs.
FSIS has been running a pilot project at 20 chicken and turkey plants since 1998 in which the poultry plants themselves are doing online processing inspections.
The consumer group Food & Water Watch, and the inspectors at the rally, take issue with the entire proposal, arguing that it privatizes inspection and puts consumers at risk.