A new report out from the Office of Inspector General says that the USDA DID not comply with data quality guidelines when writing a rule to overhaul safety inspections at pork slaughterhouses. Despite that, consumers can be assured the meat they’re getting is safe. That’s according to Dr. Bob Thaler, SDSU Extension Swine Specialist.
The rule the OIG looked at included allowing chain speeds to be accelerated at pork processing facilities. Thaler says that isn’t really an issue and even more so now isn’t because as plants are coming back on line following the pandemic, chain speeds are lower.
Thaler says the critical point is that inspections are done properly and correctly and he believes so far they are.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service noted that OIG put a distorted emphasis on minor errors and omissions in preliminary rulemaking documents.
