The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service plans to dilute the role of veterinarians in animal slaughter. It is a change made during a persistent and severe national DVM shortage. But those Doctors of Veterinary Medicine (DVMs) at USDA believe fewer veterinarians put both food safety and consumer protection at
Continue Reading Diluting the role of USDA veterinarians is a mistake according to those on the job at FSIS
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service are seeking public comments on proposed rules and notices, which are viewable on the FSIS Federal Register & Rulemaking webpage.
Of note is that FSIS extended the written comment period on the proposed Salmonella framework to Dec. 16, 2022. Written comments should
Continue Reading FSIS seeking public comments on a number of proposed rules and regulations for the USDA
Federal Judge Edward G. Smith Wednesday found farmer Amos Miller in contempt of court in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The judge is discussing with counsel how to resolve the issue of sanctions for the seller of unpasteurized, raw milk and uninspected meat and poultry products.
Continue Reading Organic, raw farmer found in contempt by federal court for eastern Pennsylvania
You cannot slaughter animals without workers to do the work, and you cannot sell meat without inspectors.
We need to protect both workers and inspectors or we will see more plants shutter and our grocery stores empty.
Forcing workers and inspectors to work unprotected is not the answer.
According
Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: We are having a problem with the U.S. meat supply
Federal job recruiters are in cattle country this week and next looking for prospective food safety inspectors in Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) currently employs 7,500 meat and poultry inspectors.
The agency’s challenge is keeping those ranks filled while continuing
Continue Reading 3-state recruitment drive underway for USDA meat and poultry inspectors
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part opinion piece. To read part one, please click here.
In the previous article, I wrote about the decades-old public health problem of poultry-borne salmonellosis. This article will propose declaring the virulent strains that are pathogenic to humans as adulterants
Continue Reading Reality of our world: Money trumps altruism in the quest for safer poultry
Written in response to: Eschewing obfuscation on poultry slaughter line speeds
Let’s be clear and stick to the facts when discussing line speeds in poultry plants. Parsing words and bending facts will have real victims: consumer and worker safety. There is no such thing as just increasing line speeds in
Continue Reading Letter to the Editor: No obfuscation if you keep to the facts
The key to understanding the complexities in the debate over the line speed issue for poultry production is to recognize that there is a distinct difference between the line speed for slaughter and the line speed for processing in a facility. While slaughter line speed is currently limited to 140
Continue Reading Eschewing obfuscation on poultry slaughter line speed
Editor’s note: This is a recent installment in a series of employee profiles being published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service, republished here with permission.
FSIS is more than just a career for Consumer Safety Inspector Raynetta Jackson: It is a second home where her
Continue Reading Faces of Food Safety: Meet Raynetta Jackson of FSIS
Sometimes when a door swings open, opportunity for change has the chance to enter.
That’s what some members of the National Association of Federal Veterinarians are hoping will happen now that two top food safety positions at the U.S, Department of Agriculture are in line for new leadership.
On July
Continue Reading Former USDA officials say feds critically short of veterinarians
