House Agriculture subcommittee chair criticizes planned FSIS inspector furloughs
The chairman of the House Agriculture subcommittee overseeing crops and risk management criticized USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s plan to layoff all U.S. meat and poultry inspectors for two weeks. The USDA has warned in the past that layoffs, which would effectively shut down the U.S. meat and poultry industry for two weeks, would become necessary if the March 1 budget cuts go into affect.
"I am concerned that your plan to furlough (meat) inspectors is impractical and misguided, as it could prevent FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) from meeting its responsibilities to packers, processors and consumers," wrote Texas Republican Michael Conaway. Conaway asked for a detailed explanation of how the USDA would carry out overall budget cuts of about $2 billion and how it would keep the meat supply moving, Reuters reports.