USDA Pilot Project Threatens Food Safety
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching a new pilot project that would transform the way border inspection is carried out for certain types of Canadian meat. The project would allow some privileged Canadian companies to transport some meat products such as beef and pork products directly to the food processing facilities in the U.S. without border inspection.
There are a number of U.S. advocacy groups who are alarmed by this new pilot project and think it’s a bad idea. Consumer groups such as Food & Water Watch, Consumer Federation of America and the National Consumers League raise a number of concerns in a letter that they sent to the USDA on September 18, 2012. The eight page letter includes citations and some graphic images of meat products that have attempted to being transported across the border. While, these cases don’t represent the majority of situations where meat is transported across the border, it does highlight the importance of border inspection to ensure the highest level of food safety standards.
The USDA doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to pilot projects. One example is the controversial HIMP program that increased the speed at which poultry plants handling of chicken carcasses per federal inspector went from 35 to 175. This program was so controversial that even the federal inspectors themselves noted that the program was not upholding the highest food safety standards.
Cutting corners and trying to save money by limiting food inspections raises the risks to human health. The Canadian meat inspection pilot project mirrors some of the same tactics that were used in the HIMP program and should be raising alarm bells to both consumers and industry. Food safety is at risk and people’s health is at risk if this pilot project begins. The issue isn’t about what meat products are better Canada versus the United States, it’s about food safety standards that consumers in both Canada and the U.S. expect.