Group of bipartisan Senators call for release of poultry inspection rule

A bipartisan group of 13 U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle sent a letter last week to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to move forward with a proposal to modernize the department’s poultry inspection system.The voluntary change would allow plant employees to check carcasses for defects and perform other quality-assurance tasks not related to food safety. That would free up some federal inspectors to focus more on food safety-related tasks, such as oversight and verification, microbiological testing for pathogens, sanitation standards and antimicrobial controls in the plant. Read More