How Is Human Chicken Inspected?

About a year ago, while researching, I ran across a few articles talking about how human grade chickens were inspected.

I was shocked to learn that that independent chicken inspector’s, while on their line, were responsible to inspect 140 chickens per minute!  But wait……under the new USDA program, they would leave the inspection up to the private companies (regulating themselves) and they want to change that line speed to inspect 175 chickens per minute!!!!! That’s about 1/3^rd of a second per chicken!

If the USDA stamp is on a package of chicken they only inspect about 35 chickens per minute! Why in the world would they be considering this program to pass?????

Here are what the stamps look like. Notice the wording? “Verified”

Phyllis McKelvey, a former FSIS inspector, in the chicken industry for 44 years had this to say: “At 175 birds a minute, no one can see everything about that chicken,” McKelvey said in an interview with Food Safety News. “Now you tell me how they’re going to inspect their bird in a third of a second. It’s impossible to see it.”

Pamela Picard put it this way: “Under this new program, the chicken companies will rubber stamp, I mean inspect, 175 chickens a minute. 175! That’s just under three chickens a second.  Are you thinking, “Wait a minute, 175 chickens a minute, that’s IMPOSSIBLE!”  I have a little test for you and the USDA: if you can even count to 175 in sixty seconds, I might reconsider my opposition.”

SO…..when I saw this new “Shock Wave” posted by Susan T…..I thought you might find it interesting and…..maybe even a little humorous?????? ………    NOT!!!!

Fecal Contamination Warning Labels:

If the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has its way, poultry products in your grocery might soon warn human food consumers about feces contamination.

Kudos to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)!  They petitioned the USDA on Mach 14, 2013 “to declare feces an adulterant in poultry products and label products to warn consumers about likely contamination.”

From the PCRM website…
“Nearly half the chicken products sold in supermarkets are contaminated with feces, according to independent laboratory testing commissioned by the Physicians Committee in 2012. The study analyzed chicken samples from 15 grocery store chains in 10 major U.S. cities. The Physicians Committee’s petition explains that even thorough cooking does not remove feces from meat.

“Feces may contain round worms, hair worms, tape worms, and leftover bits of whatever the animal excreting the feces may have eaten, not to mention the usual fecal components of digestive juices and various chemicals that the animal was in the process of excreting,” the petition states.

“The presence of feces can shut down a neighborhood pool for days,” says Joseph Gonzales, R.D., staff dietitian with the Physicians Committee. “No one wants to swim in feces, much less eat it. Consumers deserve to know that the chicken breasts or ground beef they’re purchasing is likely contaminated with feces.”

I agree – consumers do deserve to know.

So do pet food consumers.  All pet food consumers deserve to know the quality (and country of origin) of each ingredient in pet foods and treats.

Just for kicks, let’s imagine the warnings that could be (should be) put on the labels of pet foods that contain rendered waste ingredients…