In a blog that was published on Friday, April 13 on the Huffington Post, FSIS Administrator Alfred Almanza attempted to clarify some of the misconceptions behind the agency's proposed chicken inspection changes.

“If we're going to have a debate on the merits of this proposal, I welcome it,” he wrote in a blog entitled “Setting the Record Straight on the Proposed Chicken Inspection Rule.” “But we need to use the same facts in this important discussion.”

Almanza pointed out that the poultry inspection modernization plan will help prevent an estimated 5,200 illnesses by better focusing the FSIS inspectors, who currently visually inspect each carcass for bumps and blemishes.

“But now that our scientific knowledge has advanced and helped us better identify true food safety threats, we cannot do the same thing we've been doing since the 1950s,” he wrote.

The full text of Almanza's blog post is also available on the FSIS website, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_041312_01/index.asp.

Source: FSIS