Furloughs of meat inspectors will take “several months” to roll out, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told lawmakers on Tuesday. The department will send out notices to union representatives this week letting them know furloughs are possible, Vilsack told members of Congress at a House Agriculture Committee hearing, according to multiple media reports. “We will do everything we can to minimize the disruption,” said Vilsack. “We are looking at a several-month period before furloughs can be implemented.” The secretary also said furlough days might be closer to 11 or 12. The Obama administration had originally estimated it might take as many as 15 days of inspector furloughs to meet the budget cuts. Pulling USDA meat inspectors off the front lines is a damaging prospect to the industry because meat plants can’t operate without them if they want to ship their meat across state lines. Such distribution without inspection would be against the law. Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) said the administration’s warnings about furloughing meat inspectors were having a negative impact on the economy. “Members of this committee have heard from constituents that these statements about the interruption of production have affected prices, caused concern among financial markets, and alarmed buyers and sellers in the retail and food-service community,” said Lucas, according to Bloomberg. USDA has said that a two-week furlough could cost the meat industry more than $10 billion and cost workers another $400 million in wages. Pictured: Secretary Vilsack testifying before the House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday. Photo by Lance Cheung courtesy of USDA.
The News Desk team at Food Safety News covers breaking developments, regulatory updates, recalls, and key topics shaping food safety today. These articles are produced collaboratively by our editorial staff.
Rwanda has lifted a ban on some South African food products that was put in place in 2017 because of a Listeria outbreak that sickened more than 1,000 people.
Plaintiffs suing the state of Florida in an effort to overturn the state’s emergency ban on 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) are listed on the court documents as: K.T.
With so much news bombarding them, most consumers don’t realize that U.S. agriculture has reached a “pivotal moment” in its history. No, we’re not talking about production
El Eden Import Distributor Corp., a Long Island City, NY, firm, is recalling 264 pounds of potato chip products containing chicharrón (pork cracklings) because they were produced in the Republic
A partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and Singapore has been expanded to include risk assessment.
Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) National Centre for Food Science (NCFS) has been
The Food and Drug Administration uses import alerts to enforce U.S. food safety regulations for food from foreign countries. The agency updates and modifies the alerts as needed.
Recent
Made Fresh Salads Inc. of Bay Shore, NY, is recalling all Ready to Eat Deli Style Salads and cream cheese, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria
