Yes to USDA Inspection Waivers!
By Jennifer Hill
Last week a Cargill beef plant in Schuyler, Nebraska was granted a regulatory waiver by the USDA allowing private plant employees to take on the role of federal inspectors, reducing the need for USDA inspectors. A similar waiver was granted to a pork processor under the Trump Administration.
The monopoly on inspectors granted to the feds has long been part of the problem in the packing industry where small, local packers struggle to get inspections scheduled, choking their ability to compete. Any move to lessen regulations, potentially freeing up competition should be applauded, as long as it expands to all plants.
Those opposed to the waiver cite concerns about food safety standards, claiming that employees of the plant will be less inclined to follow strict guidelines that protect consumers.
However, according to the CDC the most common types of foodborne illness are from consumers failing to prepare their food correctly. Salmonella and campylobacter are the most prevalent illnesses and both are contracted from improperly prepared meat. There’s nothing a meat inspector can do to prevent poor cooking. Additionally, meat products don’t even make the list of the top 5 commonly recalled food products. Pet food and vegetables solidly rule the recalls. In today’s age of social media blasting and instant communication consumers have never been more protected from dangerous products, without the help of the government. All it takes is one viral post to destroy a corporate quarter. Businesses know this, and that it’s in their best interest to provide a safe product if they want to stay afloat.
Holding faith in USDA inspectors themselves is probably misplaced. Last week a USDA inspector was indicted in a Laredo federal court for accepting bribes to allow diseased cattle into the US across the Mexico border without inspection or quarantine. The charges allege this has been going on for years. Clearly a USDA Inspected sticker shouldn’t hold much gravitas anyway.
The only real danger here is if the self-inspection waivers are only granted to the big boys. Agricultural producers should be applying pressure to increase these waivers, allowing smaller packers to get in on the game and apply some competitive pressure to their bigger counterparts. Instead the kneejerk reaction from many ranchers has been anger, likely because the immediate beneficiary of the waiver is Cargill, but clamoring for a shutdown to the waiver is short sided and wrong.