January 23, 2012
Dear Indiana,
Warning: this email contains some information that could make you sick.
Secretary Vilsack has just announced a plan to "privatize" meat inspection in poultry slaughter plants. This means that poultry processors will do their own inspection, leaving a lot of room for error, and a lot of potential to make us sick. Ask Secretary Vilsack to keep meat inspection strong to protect you and your family.
The USDA has been running a pilot project in two dozen slaughter facilities since 1998 where they remove USDA inspectors and allow employees to do the food safety inspections. In these plants, line speeds have been permitted to run as fast as 200 birds per minute, which is several times faster than other poultry slaughter plants, and company employees who perform inspections are not properly trained to stop unsafe poultry products from leaving the plant.
We reviewed more than 5,000 pages of documents that we obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, and found that current regulations are not being enforced by company inspectors. For example, the records show that bile, sores, scabs, feathers and digestive tract tissue are often not being properly removed from chicken carcasses.
This is totally unacceptable. Our food safety should be the last thing that should be privatized.
Take action to stop this privatized meat inspection plan:
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9268
Thanks for taking action,
Sarah Alexander
Education & Outreach Director
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch(dot)org | 
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