Inspection and Protection of U.S. Meat and Poultry

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) must inspect most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and labelling. Federal inspectors or their state counterparts are present at all times in virtually all slaughter plants and for at least part of each day in establishments that further process meat and poultry products. This book addresses the debate that has ensued for decades over whether this system, designed in the early 1900s, has kept pace with changes in the food production and marketing industries. Several significant changes in meat and poultry inspection programs were included in the 2008 farm bill (P.L. 110-246), signed into law in June 2008. These changes are described in this book and include permitting some state-inspected meat and poultry products to enter interstate commerce, bringing catfish under mandatory USDA inspection and requiring establishments to prepare and maintain written recall plans. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has monitored numerous recalls of meat and poultry products sold in the U.S. The recalls have involved beef products possibly contaminated with E. coli, beef and poultry products possibly contaminated with Salmonella, and canned meat products possibly contaminated by botulism. These recalls raise issues of consumer confidence in the meat industry and questions about the adequacy of the USDA oversight of these products.