The nation’s meat inspectors – or at least those “who conduct regulatory verification activities outdoors” – are being told how to protect themselves from mosquito-borne diseases. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspection program personnel (IPP) got instructions Wednesday on how to protect themselves from mosquito bites in an official FSIS Notice. [caption id=”attachment_130638″…
Union Warns Members About Accessing the Web Using Government Time, Equipment
USDA’s meat, poultry and egg processing inspectors who work for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are being warned by their union not to use government time and equipment to access or trade certain information on the web. For example, off-limits during work time and/or using work equipment is a “Union Thugs” site, which…
Consumer Group Again Calls on FSIS to Address Food Safety Inspector Shortages
Food & Water Watch (FWW) continues to prod the U.S. Department of Agriculture about shortages of food safety inspectors. In a letter sent to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday, FWW Executive Director Wenonah Hauter cited incidents of understaffing in the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which she said “directly contradict” agency testimony before…
USDA Meat Inspectors Report Enforcement Actions for Quarter
Fines and probationary sentences for selling uninspected meat products top the enforcement report for the last quarter of enforcement activity by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS). USDA’s meat inspectors use criminal, civil and administrative actions to police the safety of America’s meat, poultry and eggs. FSIS issues a quarterly report on these activities,…
Congress Passes Bill to Avert Meat Inspector Furloughs
The House on Thursday passed a continuing resolution that will head off furloughs for U.S. meat inspectors that would have taken place this summer as a result of the sequester. The measure, introduced by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), passed the House by a vote of 318 to 109 today after breezing …
Senate Approves Measure to Avoid Meat Inspector Furloughs
The Senate on Wednesday approved an amendment to avoid meat inspector furloughs that were slated to occur under the current across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester. Introduced by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), the measure would redirect $55 million from other areas of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s budget to the…
All Federal Meat Inspectors To Be Furloughed on 11 Scheduled Days
The nation’s meat inspectors will be forced to take the same days off, possibility shutting down the U.S. meat industry on those dates, the House Agriculture Subcommittee learned Wednesday. In an exchange with USDA Under Secretary For Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen, the committee heard details of the administration’s plan for 11 furlough days that might…
USDA Meat & Poultry Inspectors Start Year With Brisk Business
With tomorrow’s sequester, USDA’s meat and poultry inspectors are supposed to see less work, but what they do accomplish will likely be measured against what they did during the last quarter of 2012. The federal government actually calls the period ending Dec. 31 the first quarter of its fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In …