In the wake of the scandal of sick, tortured cows being slaughtered for human consumption right under the eyes of the Keystone Kops at the USDA, one lawmaker has concluded we probably need to rethink the federal government's relationship with the food industry. From an MSNBC.com article:
A lawmaker called Tuesday for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be stripped of its responsibility for food safety in the wake of the nation’s largest-ever meat recall.
The agency’s twin mandates of promoting the nation’s agriculture and monitoring it for safety have become blurred, Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro said.
“Food safety ought to be of a high enough priority in this nation that we have a single agency that deals with it and not an agency that is responsible for promoting a product, selling a product and then as an afterthought dealing with how our food supply is safe,” said DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the House subcommittee responsible for the USDA’s funding.
The USDA is hamstrung by its ties to the
very industry it is supposed to be monitoring. It is well-known that
there are never really any surprise visits to processing plants and
slaughterhouses, and as Michael Pollan described, inspectors biggest
concern is often whether or not they have access to private bathroom
during their inspections. Toughen up standards in the food industry,
and create an agency with real power to enforce the rules, and let the
corporations worry about "promoting a product."
Comments