Ever since the publishing of "The Jungle" in the early 1900s, journalism and the American public have been interested in the state of the meat industry. The reason for this has been because of the often gross oversight of food inspectors concerning the meat processing industry. In the early 1900s, the conditions in which meat were processed were abysmal, and today, while the Pure Food and Drug Acts have many provisions dictating the inspection of factories and processing techniques, the actual enforcement of these provisions has been spotty at best.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117992&page=1
The first widespread evidence of recent oversight was seen in the 2008 pandemic of news stories and undercover investigations into "downer cows" and other violations in California dairy and meat processing plants. (A downer cow is a cow that is too sick or tired to stand up by itself. The taped violation involved a worker at a plant lifting one of these cows with a forklift and prodding it with a forklift.). Subsequent investigation proved that abuse and incorporation of downer cows into the food supply was not uncommon.
http://usfoodpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/01/humane-society-video-of-workers-abusing.html
Inspections had not found the violations and the livestock were rarely screened for abuse or illness at more than a perfunctory level. Depositions from a congressional hearing state as much:
"In
fact, in November 2008 the Inspector General found that FSIS
had been in the slaughter plant where those scenes of abuse were recorded
and found no problems, just months before the undercover video was shot."
While the 2008 Farm
Bill and many amendments to state and federal inspection programs were made,
amendments did not fix the matter. The issue of staffing still remained:
"there
are just not enough inspectors to keep up with the large volume of livestock
going through slaughter to enforce the act and all food safety laws and
regulations. We are still experiencing serious staffing shortages in various
parts of the country."
Even when there are
inspectors, there are issues:
"Inspectors
from over half of the plants surveyed reported that additional guidance and
training are needed. In particular, when asked about seven areas of
enforcement, such as animal sensibility,inspectors' responses ranged from over
40 to nearly 60 percent that they need more guidance and training. Others have
called for more training, including USDA's Inspector General, major industry
associations, and the Humane Society."
In short, the
government is failing to inspect meat and the treatment of animals the way the
law intends. This type of oversight is a plague among all countries, it would
seem; given the horse meat incidents in recent months where horse meat was
served to unknowing European consumers. Some people think that a similar
incident could happen in the US, however. With the current regulatory
enforcement as spotty as it is, those beliefs are not likely unfounded:
So, here's a
question. With the regulatory system the way it is, how safe is the average
pound of ground beef? Has it really been inspected, or has the plant that
produces it cut corners and bypassed the proper regulations? What's the
likelihood of the average consumer ever knowing that the pound of meat is safe
and ready for consumption - by themselves, their children, or perhaps their
elderly parents?
