Chicken Council: USDA sends poultry rule to OMB
July 11, 2014 | 11:59 PM
The National Chicken Council on Thursday praised the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service for sending its proposed rule to modernize the U.S. poultry inspection system to the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review.
Mike Brown
“I commend USDA for taking the next step in an effort to modernize the way the agency inspects chicken,” said NCC President Mike Brown.
“In an effort to continue our progress towards reducing foodborne illnesses, we believe, along with food safety experts, that the poultry inspection system should be modernized and transitioned to a model that is more science and risk-based,” Brown said. “Not only will this system build on our food safety progress, if fully implemented, it will create jobs.”
"We look forward to reviewing the final rule in its entirety once it is published in the Federal Register. After a successful 15-year pilot program, I urge OIRA to perform an expeditious review," Brown added.
The National Turkey Federation also said it was pleased the rule had been sent to OMB.
The rule would allow poultry company employees to perform some tasks now performed by federal meat inspectors.
“The voluntary change would allow trained plant employees to check carcasses for defects and perform other quality-assurance tasks not related to food safety,” NCC said in a news release. “That would free up some federal inspectors to focus more on food safety-related tasks, such as oversight and verification, microbiological testing for pathogens like Salmonella, sanitation standards and antimicrobial controls in the plant.”
Some members of Congress, union officials and consumer activists have said the rule would make the poultry supply less safe. But Brown said the criticism was only an attempt to save federal union jobs, noted that FSIS would still be in charge, and said NCC has launched a website to explain the changes to the inspection system.
“In an attempt to save a few federal union jobs that have proven unnecessary over the past 15 years, the inspectors union and their allies have spread many misconceptions about this inspection system and chicken processing in general,” Brown said.
“We hope this new website will serve as both an educational tool and resource. After learning the facts, I'm sure taxpayers want their hard earned tax dollars going towards federal inspectors performing tasks like testing for salmonella, instead of cutting broken wings off of chicken carcasses.”
He also noted that last December a bipartisan group of 13 U.S. senators sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to move forward with the proposal.
▪ USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection Proposed Rule
▪ National Chicken Council — Poultry Inspection Modernization
“I commend USDA for taking the next step in an effort to modernize the way the agency inspects chicken,” said NCC President Mike Brown.
“In an effort to continue our progress towards reducing foodborne illnesses, we believe, along with food safety experts, that the poultry inspection system should be modernized and transitioned to a model that is more science and risk-based,” Brown said. “Not only will this system build on our food safety progress, if fully implemented, it will create jobs.”
"We look forward to reviewing the final rule in its entirety once it is published in the Federal Register. After a successful 15-year pilot program, I urge OIRA to perform an expeditious review," Brown added.
The National Turkey Federation also said it was pleased the rule had been sent to OMB.
The rule would allow poultry company employees to perform some tasks now performed by federal meat inspectors.
“The voluntary change would allow trained plant employees to check carcasses for defects and perform other quality-assurance tasks not related to food safety,” NCC said in a news release. “That would free up some federal inspectors to focus more on food safety-related tasks, such as oversight and verification, microbiological testing for pathogens like Salmonella, sanitation standards and antimicrobial controls in the plant.”
Some members of Congress, union officials and consumer activists have said the rule would make the poultry supply less safe. But Brown said the criticism was only an attempt to save federal union jobs, noted that FSIS would still be in charge, and said NCC has launched a website to explain the changes to the inspection system.
“In an attempt to save a few federal union jobs that have proven unnecessary over the past 15 years, the inspectors union and their allies have spread many misconceptions about this inspection system and chicken processing in general,” Brown said.
“We hope this new website will serve as both an educational tool and resource. After learning the facts, I'm sure taxpayers want their hard earned tax dollars going towards federal inspectors performing tasks like testing for salmonella, instead of cutting broken wings off of chicken carcasses.”
He also noted that last December a bipartisan group of 13 U.S. senators sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to move forward with the proposal.
▪ USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection Proposed Rule
▪ National Chicken Council — Poultry Inspection Modernization
