Should food safety have its own agency – outside of the USDA? On the next Your Call, we’ll have a conversation about a high-speed hog inspection program that whistleblowers say is jeopardizing public health. Whistleblowers working for Hormel say inspectors are encouraged not to stop the line for fecal contamination or diseased pig carcasses. The USDA and Hormel continue to defend this program. US lawmakers have proposed a bill that would create a single food safety agency. Would that ensure food safety? It’s your call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:

Amanda Hitt, director, Government Accountability Project’s Food Integrity Campaign.

 Ted Genoways, author of The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of our Food

Web resources:

Food Integrity Campaign Affidavits on High Speed Hogs:

Mother Jones: USDA Whistleblowers Tell All–and You May Never Eat Bacon Again

The New Republic: Whistleblower UDSA Food Inspectors on Hormel’s Pork Plants. “It’s Just Nuts”

Salon: USDA pork inspectors speak out: “People are going to eat sh*t”

Reuters: US Lawmakers propose bill to create single food safety

file:///C:/Users/NGOCNG~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gifUSDA: Office of the Inspector General report on HIMP in Pork Plants