Tyson wants fewer government inspectors in one of its beef plants. Food safety advocates are raisiin

[riversedge]

Source: NBC News



Tyson wants fewer government inspectors in one of its beef plants. Food safety advocates are raising alarms.
Consumer advocates warn that the changes could threaten food safety by keeping red flags out of the sight of expert inspectors.

Aug. 14, 2019, 3:30 AM CDT By Suzy Khimm

Tyson, one of the country’s largest meatpackers, is petitioning the Trump administration to reduce the number of government inspectors at a Kansas beef plant — a proposal that has raised alarms among some consumer and food safety advocates, who fear the changes could jeopardize public health.

In the request, Tyson Fresh Meats proposes using its own employees, rather than independent Department of Agriculture inspectors, to take a first look at the meat being prepared at its factory in Holcomb, Kansas. Tyson’s employees would identify unsuitable beef carcasses and trim away defects, before USDA inspectors check every carcass that is allowed to go forward for disease and contamination, Tyson said in its March waiver proposal, which was obtained by the advocacy group Food and Water Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request. The shift would allow Tyson to speed up its factory line.

The USDA is considering Tyson’s request — the first of its kind for a beef plant — as part of a broader overhaul of beef inspections that aims to shift quality control from government inspectors to factory workers, while focusing the USDA’s attention on more targeted safety checks.
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Consumer advocates warn that the changes could threaten food safety by keeping red flags out of the sight of expert inspectors. Dr. Pat Basu, the USDA’s former chief veterinarian, said that Tyson factory workers without adequate training might miss critical signs of disease, drug injections or bacterial contamination — and remove the evidence before USDA inspectors can examine the carcasses.
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Tyson’s request comes as the Trump administration is finalizing a similar overhaul for pork plants, which will allow them to reduce the number of USDA inspectors by having factory workers take over more quality control tasks..................................

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/tyson-wants-fewer-government-inspectors-one-its-beef-plants-food-n1041966

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I do not trust the TRump adm. Period.

[katmondoo]

1. I never buy Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield products

I am also trying to limit the amount of beef I use.

[kimbutgar]

11. +1

I stay away from those companies also.

[Newest Reality]

2. Oh...

What could go wrong? Who needs pesky inspections anyway?

I mean, Tyson is a great company with only the best intentions for the health and safety of its customers, so we can depend on that!

If they allow that request to be honored, then it is caveat emptor. Don't buy and consume their diseased and contaminated meat.

Tyson! "Be surprised at dinner tonight!"

[ArizonaLib]

8. You know they plan seriously dangerous crap when

they would rather PAY and "train" employees than have government inspectors watching what they do with our food.

Is it because they care so much that the bottoms line is not important to them? No - the bottom line will still increase because the money they make out of not discarding bad meat and selling it anyway will more than pay for adding employees to the inspection process. In fact, in reading the article again, they are not committing to add employees. They just want to go back to the pre 1900's.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

13. Let's see -- I'm an employee-inspector and I find some contaminated meat...

Do I report it so the line is stopped until the defect is corrected, at the expense to the company of perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars, or do I step outside and take a smoke break as the bad meat continues down the line?

Which choice will affect whether I have a job tomorrow?

If the tragic crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX has taught us one thing, it's that self-regulation doesn't always produce the optimum result.

[Newest Reality]

14. Eggactly...

The fox is not a good choice for keeper of the hen house.

I wonder if this is how Soylent Green gets started? They can toss immigrants in the grinders if nobody is looking and that's good for the bottom line. It's meat!

TYSON: Watch for our new, delicious and healthy product: TYSON SOYLENT GREEN! "Because, you don't want other people looking at your food or delaying it."

The absurdity is at a surreal level. I forgot to check the surreal-o-meter today.

[Phoenix61]

3. Haven't eaten beef or pork in over 30 years.

This would be enough to make me stop if I hadn’t already.

[Coventina]

15. Same here. It's a decision I have never regretted. Not for an instant.

[LenaBaby61]

21. "Haven't eaten beef or pork in over 30 years."

Been Vegan for 30 plus years myself, and I DON'T miss any meat products, and like you I couldn't even think about eating any type of meat products with the way the inspectors are being removed from these meat plants 🤢

[democratisphere]

4. Good time to go vegetarian or vegan.

You gotta know if a meat packing company wants fewer inspectors, they are up to no damn good. The corporate corruption is unending.

[DFW]

5. ARAMA wants fewer street cop patrols, too, I hear

The Armed Robbers And Muggers Association has demanded that they be subject to far less harassment from law enforcement when carrying out their daily routines.

I hear Tyson Fresh Meats is backing their efforts.

[democratisphere]

7. Must make sure ARAMA attends the next Tyson Executive Board Meeting.

They will all be right at home. Corporate and Street Criminals unite!
.

[rurallib]

6. Feels like lettingg Jeffery Epstein go free with a promise

to turn himself in if he does something bad.

[Firestorm49]

9. What could possibly go wrong?

What’s the big deal about recalling ten thousand tons of lettuce every other month? E Coli? Get used to it. So what if a major food supply is contaminated. Botulism? The name just sort of rolls off the tongue. Salmonella? So what. In a month or two you’ll feel better, that is, if you don’t die first.

Now then, the reason that the very first “regulation” was ever put into law was because some entity was found to be fucking up. Make up your scenario. Workers were subjected to long cruel working conditions, or a product was made that put lives at risk, or, or, or. It really doesn’t matter why. What matters is regulations were enacted to protect the public from harm caused by.........., wait for it............GREED. Boy, aren’t we getting tired of THAT word.

And so, under the Republican destruction of America, our health and we’ll being continue to deteriorate. Let us now kneel before father Trump and his mentally challenged minions, and pray to the almighty dollar bill and the Board Of Directors. Praise be power and greed.

By the way, my wife just googled the number FDA recalls involving food and beverage since January 27th of this year - 661to be specific. Self regulation? I don’t think so.

[kimbutgar]

10. When we start getting these food poisonings it will happen in repuke states with little over sight

A lot of fat donnie supporters love their beef.

[sakabatou]

12. Yay food poisoning!

[not fooled]

16. A threefer!

Get rid of more onerous regulations on business!

Shrink evil government!

Kill off some useless eaters from the peasantry!

[bronxiteforever]

17. They really want us to live in the days of The Jungle

"All day long the blazing midsummer sun beat down upon that square mile of abominations: upon tens of thousands of cattle crowded into pens whose wooden floors stank and steamed contagion; upon bare, blistering, cinder-strewn railroad tracks and huge blocks of dingy meat factories, whose labyrinthine passages defied a breath of fresh air to penetrate them; and there are not merely rivers of hot blood and carloads of moist flesh, and rendering-vats and soup cauldrons, glue-factories and fertilizer tanks, that smelt like the craters of hell-there are also tons of garbage festering in the sun, and the greasy laundry of the workers hung out to dry and dining rooms littered with food black with flies, and toilet rooms that are open sewers." Chapter 26, pg. 328
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

[Blue_Tires]

18. Evidently this must be what middle class white folks

in red states wanted, since that's what they voted for...

[James48]

19. That plant BURNT DOWN THIS WEEK

From a friend this week- who is a USDA Meat INspector at THAT PLANT:

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I am stationed at a large Tyson beef plant in Holcomb, KS. Last night there was a large fire at our plant. Everyone was evacuate safely and no injuries were reported. We have about 30-40 USDA inspectors at our plant who will now need to travel starting Monday.

They let us go into our plant today to retrieve our equipment and uniforms, personal things, car keys,etc. Had a short meeting. Next week we'll all be at close plants, within about an hour from us, in Dodge City and Liberal, KS. The week after that, who knows? We could use your prayers right now. A lot of us have small children starting school this week. Our lives just got turned upside down.

We were all hugging and saying goodbye like we were saying goodbye to family. Some of us will never work together again.
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So much for having US Government workers watch the food supply. It's GONE.

[James48]

20. PLANT BURNT DOWN

From an article about the fire-

https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article233949422.html

After crippling Tyson plant fire, Kansas cattle industry faces ‘logistics nightmare’


TOPEKA
Even though cattle producer Lee Reeve doesn’t have a contract with the Tyson Fresh Meats plant scarred by fire this weekend, he’s still bracing for the effects.

“Whenever you lose – hopefully temporarily – a market, it hurts everybody,” said Reeve, who operates a feed yard in Garden City about 10 miles from the plant.

Days after the crippling fire at one of the largest beef plants in the United States, the consequences are still rippling through the cattle industry, both in Kansas and across the country.

The large fire that lashed the Tyson plant in Holcomb on Friday shuttered its operations indefinitely. The company has promised to rebuild and will pay the more than 3,500 employees in the meantime. Gov. Laura Kelly has also pledged her administration’s help.

Still, the market reaction has been brutal.

On Monday, cattle futures sank by the largest daily amount allowed. At least one Kansas beef producer predicted the closure would lead to higher beef prices at the grocery store.

“I think, again, in the short term there will be” a consumer impact, said Matt Perrier, who runs Dalebanks Angus near Eureka.

Shutting the Holcomb plant down, even if just for a few weeks, will place greater strain on the cattle-feeding industry. The plant represents about 6 percent of the country’s cattle processing capacity, and about a quarter of Kansas capacity.


(MORE)
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https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article233949422.html


Seems like a lot of work just to get rid of the 30 USDA government inspectors at that plant. Now they won't have any when it reopens.