As a result, restaurants have often been inspected in accordance with laws based on FDA's model food codes while institutions in the same jurisdictions have not. FDA's strategy is to work more closely with, and to provide better services to, the federal agencies that develop and provide the overall regulatory policy under which institutions are inspected at the state and local level. With better information exchange and joint participation in each others' policy development and training mechanisms, federal agencies will be better able to speak with one voice on food safety matters. FDA expects that, as guidelines and regulations are revised and updated, reference to FDA model food code provisions for foodborne illness prevention will be incorporated. More than 7,400 USDA FSIS inspectors are continuously present in 6,200 slaughter and processing plants to ensure that diseased animals do not enter the food supply and that sanitation and other requirements are met.
Inspectors also monitor the meat and poultry supply for violative levels of chemical residues.
Despite its successes, however, the current program does not fully protect public health. At that time, animal diseases were the major concern, and invisible hazards, such as pathogenic microorganisms and drug residues, had not yet attracted the attention of regulatory agencies. Since that time, changes have been made in the inspection program to reflect changes in the production of meat and poultry and to increase the efficiency of inspection. However, the current program is still inadequate to detect invisible hazards that can cause foodborne illness. In short, it does not integrate systematic control into the production process to make meat and poultry as safe as possible.