Pork industry to gain power over inspections

[G_j]

a few weeks old, but new to me..

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pork-industry-hogs-plants-trump-regulations-20190403-story.html

The Trump administration plans to shift much of the power and responsibility for food safety inspections in hog plants to the pork industry as early as May, cutting the number of federal inspectors by about 40% and replacing them with plant employees.

Under the proposed new inspection system, the responsibility for identifying diseased and contaminated pork would be shared with plant employees, whose training would be at the discretion of plant owners. There would be no limits on slaughter-line speeds.

The new pork inspection system would accelerate the federal government's move toward delegating inspections to the livestock industry. During the Obama administration, poultry plant owners were given more power over safety inspections, although that administration canceled plans to increase line speeds. The Trump administration in September allowed some poultry plants to increase line speeds.

The Trump administration also is working to shift inspection of beef to plant owners. U.S. Department of Agriculture officials are scheduled next month to discuss the proposed changes with the meat industry.

..more..

[CDerekGo]

1. o jeez

Guess I'll become vegetarian and grow my own food in my back yard from now on. Only thing we can hope for is Hairplug Himmler to eat a diseased burger from McD's??

[Luciferous]

2. I can see this going bad very quickly.

[Blue_true]

12. My thoughts also. nt

[Blue_Tires]

18. +1

[greymattermom]

3. How long until the first disease outbreak?

Maybe we need to assign The Jungle again.

[hedda_foil]

4. Trichinosis anyone?

[Hekate]

11. At least for trichinosis you can just cook thoroughly. Other things, not so much.

[democratisphere]

5. This will not go well. Greedy corporations will just let inspections slide.

[handmade34]

6. another reason

I am vegetarian

[Blue_true]

13. Plants often carry vicious toxins. You clearly missed the recent lettuce recalls. nt

[handmade34]

16. I rarely miss these

my husband died of food poisoning so I pay attention

[Blue_Tires]

19. Make sure you home grow or buy locally since Trump has long since gutted the FDA

and yes, that's a transition I also need to permanently make myself

[handmade34]

21. I am one of the fortunate ones

I do grow a lot of my own food and there are farms around me to buy local when needed... have always had a garden and just started growing my own greens in the house

my current crop of micrgreens

[Blue_true]

23. Look like you are a bit hard core. That is way better than most people. nt

[Mendocino]

28. I sow microgreen

beets, radish, broccoli and kohlrabi. I also plant purslane for the ALA, I'm vegan.

[Blue_true]

22. Or buy from a local health food store that sells produce.

If that is affordable. The products in a serious health food store are more likely to come from farmers that care about food safety (but not always since many use animal based or fish waste based fertilizers).

[snort]

7. The Trump says "Oink".

[spanone]

8. ...because we know how well industries police themselves....

not. at. all.

[Bettie]

9. What could possibly go wrong?

OH, wait, everything.

[Hekate]

10. What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

I feel a slab of well-aged BBQ tofu in my future.

[moondust]

14. Borowitz?

[TheBlackAdder]

15. Many of the US pork farms have long-term export contracts with China. They won't like infected meat.

.

Smithfield was acquired by them.


Their meats are sold under the following names:

Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Armour, John Morrell, Kretschmar, Curly’s, Carando, Cook’s, Margherita, Gwaltney, and Healthy Ones

.

[ProudLib72]

17. We've gone all the way back to 1906 and The Jungle

Unbelievable!

[Blue_Tires]

20. Donnie's war against expertise and competence continues its Blitzkrieg assault

[Initech]

24. Woohoo!!! E Coli poisoning here we come!

[smirkymonkey]

25. This should go well.

Wait until the first republican dies from contaminated pork products and then we'll see how much they rant against "federal regulations". Meanwhile, I'll consider going vegetarian.

[mucifer]

26. I honestly don't think they can make it any worse for the animals.Factory farming is so horrific BUT

a message to fellow vegans the the orange monster and his republican friends I am sure are going to do away with inspections for plant based foods, too.

We will all be poisoned.

[athena]

27. Considering how the factory farms treat sows, I am almost happy for this change.

No one with a heart should be supporting the pork industry (or, more accurately, the pig torture and murder industry) with their hard-earned dollars. Take this news as a sign and stop eating pigs. You will be helping the environment, improving your health, and taking a personal step toward ending a shameful period in human history.