FSIS Pushes Back Against Claim that Inspector Shortage Will Mean More Recalls
Yesterday in the USDA Blog, to which various officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the numerous agencies under its umbrella contribute, a Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) offical posted a strong response to a recent New York Timesarticle that claimed an inspector shortage at FSIS would "[raise] the possibility that contaminated products could reach consumers."
In the blog post, entitled "Setting the Record Straight on FSIS Inspector Vacancy Rates," Aaron Lavallee, FSIS' deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Education, argued, "vacancies within the agency do not mean there are less inspectors on the job in our nation’s meat plants." Lavallee said FSIS is legally required to have a sufficient number of inspectors present in every single meat and poultry plant in the country, adding that all plants do have the requisite number of inspectors.