Congressional candidate Christie Vilsack, who is the wife of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, has come out against USDA’s controversial poultry inspection plan.
Consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch and the American Federation of Government Employee’s National Joint Council of Food Inspection Local Unions led a rally today outside the Democratic candidate’s campaign headquarters in Ames, Iowa. Participants demanded that Mrs. Vilsack stand up for food safety and oppose the USDA’s proposed privatized poultry inspection program.
In response to the event, Vilsack released a statement voicing her concern with the 
proposal:
“…we should not privatize jobs. There are inherent concerns with allowing companies to inspect themselves, especially with an increase in line speeds that could make inspection more difficult and raise safety issues.”
The proposal to replace 800 independent, trained USDA inspectors with company employees who do not have to be trained, and increase line speeds at poultry slaughter facilities as fast as 3 birds per second, has received widespread public criticism and national media attention, including an April 18 ABC World News investigation. In response, USDA has extended the public comment period until May 26.
“The voters who will determine whether or not Christie Vilsack gets elected deserve to know what her position is on this proposal that could put public health and worker safety at risk,” said Matt Ohloff, Iowa organizer for Food & Water Watch. “We are calling on candidate Christie Vilsack to oppose this rule and demand that it be withdrawn.”
The USDA has been conducting a pilot project of the proposed model in two-dozen poultry facilities for the past 14 years. Food & Water Watch analyzed 5,000 pages of government data, which showed that company employees miss many of the food safety and wholesomeness defects on slaughtered birds. Additionally, government data shows that levels of salmonella in the pilot project plants are higher than in comparable plants not participating in the pilot. In 2002, when USDA decided to proceed with a continuation of the pilot project, Senator Tom Harkin wrote that the project “makes no sense” and “is a recipe for a food safety disaster.”
“This proposal is a giant leap backwards for protecting the food supply,” said Trent Berhow, Vice Chair of National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals. “Instead of working to strengthening the government’s hand to combat salmonella and other foodborne pathogens associated with poultry products, the Obama Administration has chosen to reduce inspection and deregulate. This disregard for public health and workers safety is deplorable.”
LET THEM EAT CHICKEN 