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Federal food inspection to be more stringent
First major changes in a decade to target high-risk meat, poultry plants
 | Felipe Murillo seperates sides of beef as they cool at the Creekstone Farm Premium Beef meatpacking plant in Arkansas City, Kan. The first major changes to food inspection in a decade will increase federal scrutiny of meat and poultry plants where the danger from E. coli and other germs is high or where past visits have found unsafe practices. |
Charlie Riedel / AP file |
WASHINGTON - The first major changes to food inspection in a decade will increase federal scrutiny of meat and poultry plants where the danger from E. coli and other germs is high or where past visits have found unsafe practices.
The new policy will result in fewer inspections at plants with lower risks and better records for handling meat and poultry.
“We’re just putting resources where the risk is greatest, and those plants that demonstrate excellent control will get less of our resources,” said Richard Raymond, the Agriculture Department’s top food safety official.
A ‘risk-based’ system
To decide the level of scrutiny a plant should get, the “risk-based” system will consider the type of product and the plant’s record of food safety violations.
A plant that makes hamburger and has repeated violations would get more inspection. A plant that makes cooked, canned ham and has a clean track record would get less scrutiny.
“There are certain food products that carry a higher inherent risk than others,” Raymond, the undersecretary for food safety, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And there are certain plants that do a better job of controlling risk than others.
For now, the new system will be used in processing plants, not in slaughter plants. No timetable has been set for shifting to the new inspection system.
An effort to save money?
Critics say the idea sounds good, but they fear department officials are rushing a complex new system into place.
“One of the concerns is that this is simply an effort to save money in a tight budget year,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We want to make sure a budget shortfall is not what’s driving these important inspection decisions.”
Raymond says the agency’s budget is not driving changes in the inspection program. “We’re not going to save any money on this part of risk-based inspection,” he said, adding there could be cost-savings if the changes are extended later to slaughtering operations.
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