The US relaxed its meat safety rules at exactly the wrong time
In the last decade, the number of recalls the US government made for unsafe meat increased. And not just by a little.
the number of Class I meat recalls made by the US Department of Agriculture increased by some 85% since 2013, from 53 to 98.
That’s the most hazardous kind of recall, carrying a reasonable chance that consumption of the food could lead to illness and even death.
Recalls in the Class II category rose by 52%, from 17 to 26, and
Class III recalls dropped from 5 to 0.
in 2013 the US recalled just over 13 million pounds of meat and poultry.
In 2019, the government recalled more than 20 million pounds.
the Trump administration, which has recently deregulated aspects of the food safety apparatus.
In October 2018, the administration announced it was
offering poultry plants waivers to increase line speeds from 140 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute,
a policy change made even after the number of Class I recalls had ed.
the administration decided in September 2019 to also relax standards for pork processors.
Under that industry’s revised plan, hog slaughter plants can opt into a system in which
they can hire their own people to replace some—but not all—federal inspectors. self-regulation! Always fails!
In addition, the government removed any cap on line speeds.
while the number of poultry recalls in 2019 was similar to previous years,
the 17 million pounds of poultry and egg products recalled last year tripled the average of the previous six years.
https://qz.com/1790253/the-usda-is-recalling-more-unsafe-meat-now-than-in-2013/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=daily-brief
Consumers want (factory) food that is safe
BigMeat wants more profits (and safe food)
Guess who wins? Enabled by Repugs, BigMeat crapifies the food.