USDA’s ministry of truth

Posted: October 15th, 2011 - 2:10am by Doug Powell

USDA has entered into some serious 1984-style rhetorical weirdness.

The PR-types at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) wrote that an Ohio firm had recalled ready-to-eat beef and pork products produced “without benefit of federal inspection.”

So what is it called when outbreaks of salmonella or E. coli are linked to meat products that had the benefit of inspection?

E-Z Shop Kitchens, Inc., a Fremont, Ohio, establishment, is recalling an undetermined amount of ready-to-eat, seasoned beef and shredded pork products that were sold for institutional and/or individual consumer use and are listed below.

The problem was discovered by FSIS personnel when following up on a complaint and is the subject of an on-going investigation. FSIS may take additional regulatory action based on the results of this investigation.

FSIS has received no reports of illness due to consumption of these products.

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Categories: Food Safety Policy
Tags: 1984, federal inspection, food safety, rhetoric, truth, Usda

Comments

Carl Custer says:

An old issue of what’s legal and what’s safe? I suspect the establishment processed some products “after hours”. That is before or after the FSIS inspector’s duty hours. For instance an establishment making FSIS & FDA product had an FSIS inspector on patrol whose hours were 6:00 to 14:30. Because the FSIS inspector was on patrol (he or she had several establishments to inspect daily) the time spent in this establishment varied from 30 minutes up to 2 hours (rarely) according to what duties the PBIS computer assigned. The establishment ordinarily didn’t start until 9:00 :^). I advised the establishment to stop processing FSIS product before 14:00 and have their records show all FSIS product entered the cooler before 14:30. They did. But, they were making similar products (seafood, beans) after 14:30 with similar risks – except – those products didn’t contain meat or poultry. If they had rolled a burrito containing cooked pork after 14:30, when the inspector was headed home, it would have been illegal. Would that burrito have been any riskier than the burritos containing cooked shrimp or beans? No. Both products were processed under identical HACCP programs. But, the Act and regulations are pretty darn prescriptive. Could the Act be amended to permit “after hours” processing under the establishments HACCP program that is monitored by FSIS inspectors as FDA product is? Yeah. Will it happen? Dunno.

Posted on October 15th, 2011 - 9:58am

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