ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE
SPECIAL REPORT
Federal Meat and Poultry Inspection Duties and Requirements—Part 1: History and Current Responsibilities
Roger W. Amery, CP-FS
up to be sold as lard (Sinclair, 1906). Short- ly after the novel was published, meat sales went down drastically because of outraged and disgusted consumers who were fearful about the depicted unsanitary conditions at meat processing companies. Upton sent his book to President Theodore Roosevelt, personally advocating for action. After reading the novel, Roosevelt ordered an investigation that yielded what he called “a sickening report” (Gable, 2004). It was never published. Instead, Congress passed the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 that mandated inspection, throughout its pro- cessing, of meat sold overseas or across state lines, which ultimately is the responsibility charged to the current Food Safety and In- spection Service (FSIS) within the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture (USDA). Since 1906, the following actions have been taken: • 1938: Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. • 1957: Congress passed the Poultry Prod- ucts Inspection Act. •1967: Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act, amending the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, so that companies producing meat inspected and sold within their own states were subject to the same inspection standards as for overseas sales. •1968: The Wholesome Poultry Act was passed to similarly amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957 (Roberts, 2001). • 1972: Both meat and poultry inspection were placed under the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. • 1977: The Food Safety and Quality Service was formed to assume the responsibility
b9:r'): This 4-part series aims to inform environmental health specialists of the duties and requirements for federal meat and poultry inspectors and the companies they regulate. The other parts of the series will be presented in subsequent issues of the Journal of Environmental Health . This special report presents part 1 and starts with the history, responsibilities, and general requirements of federal meat and poultry inspectors. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) comes under the authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. FSIS began with the Meat Inspection Act of June 1906 and has developed through the years into the current public health agency that regulates sanitation, labeling, and food safety requirements at federally inspected meat and poultry producing companies (Animals and Animal Products, 2023a). The primary purpose of FSIS is to ensure that regulated companies are producing safe food for consumers. If noncompliance is discovered, FSIS inspectors mandate appropriate action. Enforcement investigation and analysis ocers conduct assessments of written and conducted procedures to determine if the company procedures are scientifically sound and supportable. These ocers respond to consumer complaints and conduct recall eectiveness checks at the recalling companies and their consignees.
History The original Meat Inspection Act, passed in 1891, was only for meat products exported overseas. It was not until June 30, 1906, that the U.S. Congress took action to protect consumers by passing the original Food and Drugs Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906. The impetus for this congressional ac- tion was the 1906 publication of Upton Sin- clair’s novel The Jungle , which exposed the
unsanitary conditions and brutal hardships endured by immigrants who, by economic necessity, worked in notoriously dangerous factories. The story took place partially in fictional “Packingtown,” which was mod- eled after the slaughter and meat process- ing facilities in Chicago, Illinois, that were called the Union Stock Yards. Shocking scenes in the book depicted industrial ac- cidents as severe as workers stumbling into tanks where animal parts were being ground
22
Volume 85 • Number 9
Powered by FlippingBook