Court Says No to Self Regulation

In an ongoing attempt to abdicate its responsibility of inspecting meat and poultry production, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated an experimental inspection program that allows the industry to regulate itself. Under the pilot project, slaughterhouse employees replace USDA inspectors in performing on-line meat and poultry inspections.

The experimental program was tested at about 30 of the nation’s 6,000 plants, including Gold Kist, Inc. of Guntersville, Alabama. Inspection records that the government tried to keep secret confirm that Gold Kist passed thousands of pounds of chicken with tumors, pus, sores and scabs on to unsuspecting consumers. Chicken from Gold Kist supply nuggets for school lunch programs in 31 states. By the government’s own accounting methods, 40 percent of the samples taken from October 1999 to February 2000 were diseased or unwholesome.

Shockingly, USDA considers the experimental program a tremendous success. Thomas J. Billy, the head of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, issued a press release in response to the concerns about the Alabama plant saying, “We have no reason to believe products leaving these Gold Kist plants is anything other than safe and wholesome.”

But the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Judge A. Raymond Randolph, Judge Merrick B. Garland and Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards) disagreed, ruling unanimously against USDA’s experimental program. The court concluded that under federal laws, government meat inspectors must retain their traditional roles of personally examining every cow, chicken and pig in slaughterhouses and processing plants. The court said it is illegal for the USDA to allow company workers to replace government employees in inspecting products at meat and poultry plants, and explained that the experimental inspection system “provides the industry with complete control over production decisions and execution.”