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Fewer Food Inspectors, More Recalls

Despite big USDA budget increases, fewer inspectors on the job

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 6, 2008

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At a time when food recalls occur with greater frequency, a consumer group says the federal agency responsible for ensuring food safety isn't hiring enough people to carry out adequate inspections.

OMB Watch, which monitors data from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, says the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) faces severe resource and staffing limitations. Although the agency's budget has risen since it was created, the group says staffing levels have dropped steadily.

Widespread vacancies in the agency have spread FSIS's inspection force too thin, according to the report. Meanwhile, the number of meat, poultry, and egg product recalls has risen, and a recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef is the largest in the nation's history.

FSIS was in the spotlight during last month's record recall of 143 million bounds of beef from a California plant after the Humane Society provided video evidence that so-called "downer" cows were being slaughtered, in violation of federal regulations. Downer cows are banned from the food supply because they may be infected with Mad Cow disease.

FSIS was established in 1981 and given the task of monitoring the slaughter, processing, and labeling of all meat and poultry, and to inspect meat and poultry to ensure products are not contaminated or adulterated. Egg products also fall under the agency's jurisdiction. The agency is responsible for ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of the billions of pounds of meat, poultry, and egg products that enter the market each year.

In its report, OMB Watch says FSIS's problems don't appear to be directly related to its budget. It says FSIS has seen a marked increase since its inception.

"In particular, the agency has enjoyed significant budget increases over the past three fiscal years," the group said. "In FY 2006, FSIS was appropriated $830 million; in FY 2007, $890 million; and in FY 2008, $930 million — a two-year increase of 7.5 percent when adjusted for inflation."

At the same time, Americans' appetite for meat and has increased sharply. The agency has gone from inspecting 52 billion pounds of meat in 1981 to about 104 billion pounds in 2007.

"Because of the increase in production, FSIS staff and resources become increasingly smaller when compared to the scope of the industry it regulates," the report states. "Even though FSIS's budget has increased, the growth is dwarfed by the expansion of the meat and poultry industry. Of its appropriated funds, in FY 1981, FSIS spent $13.22 per thousand pounds of meat and poultry inspected and passed. By FY 2007, the figure had fallen to $8.26 per thousand pounds — a drop of almost 40 percent."

Congress, mindful of food safety's importance to voters, has spent generously on FSIS, but OMB Watch says the agency has spent an increasingly smaller proportion of the money on employees. At the same time, the number of actual employees has declined.

While the other agencies with responsibility for inspecting consumer products can take a risk-based approach – inspecting just the products believed to pose the greatest risk – FSIS has no such luxury. FSIS must inspect all meat, poultry, and egg products intended for commercial use. With fewer inspectors inspecting more product, inspections can only become less thorough.

"Less thorough inspections raise the chance that processors may have to conduct recalls," the groups report concludes. "Although recalls present an opportunity for FSIS and processors to keep tainted meat, poultry, or egg products away from consumers, recalls are far less effective in protecting public health than proper inspections, which keep those products from entering the market in the first place."

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