Lawmaker: Nation's food system is collapsing (CNN) {mostly about beef inspections}

[eppur_se_muova]

By David Fitzpatrick
CNN

FORT MORGAN, Colorado (CNN) --
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Graphic undercover video taped and released by the Humane Society of the United States this year raised questions about the safety of meat processing plants. Downed cattle shown in the video, by regulation, should have been examined by a U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian before they were slaughtered to make sure no animal with mad cow disease had entered the nation's food supply.
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Stanley Painter, who was a USDA inspector for 22 years, says the agency, which oversees food safety and inspection, doesn't allow inspectors to enforce regulations. He says that sometimes, plants fix the problems discovered by inspectors, and sometimes they don't.

By federal law, there are inspectors at each of the nation's slaughterhouses. Painter, who now heads the union that represents inspectors, said that in some parts of the country, there are 20 percent fewer inspectors than there should be. Nationwide, the vacancy figure is just under 11 percent.
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In addition to safety concerns, serious questions have also been raised about how many former beef industry lobbyists are working in top positions at the USDA.

The USDA website, www.usda.gov, shows five key staffers who once worked for the National Cattleman's Beef Association - the industry's most powerful lobbying group. The man in charge of the lobbying arm of the nation's meat packers was also a top USDA official.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/14/meat.safety/index.html

More of the ongoing train wreckage at the regulatory agencies under Bu**sh**Co.

[Warpy]

1. There was also an article at MSNBC

about the "brain drain" at the FDA, largely in response to the shitty management imposed by the present administration and their insistence all decisions be faith based and not inconvenience the holy corporation.

Our regulatory agencies have been gutted, our financial system is in worse shambles than we've been told, and our reputation around the world is shot.

Heckuva job, GOP. You finally killed our country.

[cosmik debris]

2. It goes all the way back to Ronnie Raygun

who cut the number of USDA meat inspectors right after he took office. He said that the industry could police itself.

We all know how that worked out.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. 'Self-policing' is a favorite Repug fairy tale.

Why not self-jailing prisoners? Self-convicting criminals? Self-auditing taxpayers?

None of those ideas makes the least bit of sense -- so how did they ever get 'self-policing' to come across as sounding like a policy that any sane person would even consider?