About 7,400 of FSIS' 9,702 employees are inspectors. The Joint Council represents all inspectors and food technologists, but not veterinarians or supervisors. So far, inspectors have confined their skirmishes to court, but should they lose there, they could go public with a campaign questioning whether the new system truly ensures meat and poultry safety. A central tenet of the 1907 meat inspection law was that federal employees would inspect and approve every slaughtered and processed animal carcass sold across state lines. FSIS employees visually examine carcasses as they speed by on meat company production lines.
Speeds vary by type of meat.
While as many as 25 young chickens or 32 turkeys may pass an inspector per minute, the rate for steers and heifers varies from 59 to 390 per hour depending on the number of inspectors on duty. If inspectors find evidence of contamination or disease, they inspect further and, if they find contamination, can order plant managers to stop the line. Agriculture Department lawyers argued that pathogens occurred naturally in meat and poultry and couldn't be regulated. In September 1994, FSIS announced it would begin regulating pathogens, testing for E. coli and criminally penalizing companies that distributed tainted meat. FSIS also required plants to meet salmonella standards and to test for E. coli .