Gov’t created only the illusion of food safety
If the allegations are correct, if Stewart Parnell really did repeatedly order his company to ship peanut products that he knew were tainted with deadly salmonella, current law may not be sufficient to deliver the punishment he deserves.
But at the very least, his family business, Peanut Corporation of America, is now bankrupt. The criminal and civil consequences of contributing to the deaths of at least nine people ensure that it will never produce another penny of profit for Parnell.
Unfortunately, however, the victims in this case go well beyond those sickened and killed by salmonella. Others in the peanut industry — growers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, many with sterling records of conscientious operation — have suffered extensive financial damage.
For those and others, the PCA case raises a larger question: Why has it taken death and a national scandal to identify an operation that was so clearly operating beyond the bounds of safety and even decency? This was not, after all, a one-time occurrence at the PCA plant. We have now learned of roughly a dozen instances of salmonella at the plant, none of which came to official attention.
Here in Georgia, numbers explain part of the failure. Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin has come under harsh criticism, including calls for his resignation, because his inspectors failed to find and correct the problems at PCA’s plant in Blakely. As recently as October, critics point out, a state inspector toured the PCA facility and reported only minor health violations.
However, that inspector was one of just 60 employed by the state Department of Agriculture, and was able to spend just two or three hours at the plant. She and the 59 other state inspectors are responsible for checking an estimated 16,000 facilities statewide. A team that small cannot reasonably be expected to ensure a safe food supply; at best, it can create only the illusion of safety, an illusion that lasts right up until the moment somebody dies.
With Georgia’s peanut industry taking such a serious hit in this tragedy, state legislators and other officials are of course clamoring for reform and trying to fix blame. That’s perfectly natural and appropriate.
However, it’s worth asking: If Irvin had gone to the governor or Legislature a year ago and asked to increase the number of state inspectors and the authority they wield over peanut-processing plants, what kind of reception could he have expected?
A.) “Of course, Secretary Irvin. We want to protect not just consumer safety but the reputation of Georgia’s peanut-processing industry. If we can’t ensure our products are healthy, a lot of Georgians could lose their jobs and Georgia farms and businesses would suffer, so it’s a good investment.”
B.) “Ain’t no way. We were not elected to grow the size of government, we were elected to reduce it. Government should get off the backs of business in this state, not cripple it with additional rules and regulations.”
We all know the answer.
A similar dynamic is playing out in Washington, where members of Congress are chastising federal agencies for their own failure to identify PCA’s problems. The Food and Drug Administration has responded by pointing out that in 2001, it contracted out its inspection duties to the state of Georgia.
While true, that is not a defense. The FDA farmed out its responsibility to an agency that it knew or should have known was incapable of performing it adequately. It too was less interested in protecting human health than in creating the illusion of such protection.
And again, the same congressmen complaining about the failure of regulation share a large part of the blame. The FDA farmed out its duties because Congress was unwilling to fund enough federal inspectors. And by delegating the job to agencies in Georgia and other states, the FDA and Congress put the burden of enforcement on agencies that are more vulnerable politically and less likely to take a hard line.
That was not a flaw in the system. That was part of the reason it was considered a good idea.
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124 comments Add your comment
AJC/DNC Management
February 16th, 2009
7:13 am
C) You already have enough people and money, get up off your lazy bureaucrat behind and start doing your job, government flunky loser.
Duh
Joey
February 16th, 2009
7:24 am
Irvin has been a poor excuse for an Agriculture Commissioner for long long time. How many times has the AJC called him to task? Endorsed an opponent?
Curious Observer
February 16th, 2009
7:26 am
I wish somebody would explain to me how adding food inspectors would improve food safety, when the FDA lacks the authority even to order a recall of a product. So suppose an FDA inspector finds lethal doses of cyanide in a food product. Under the current structure, the FDA lacks the authority to order the product’s recall. Instead, the producer or the distributor must voluntarily agree to recall the product. The alternative is a slow court action. Our problem is not the lack of numbers of inspectors, but rather a Wild West regulatory system.
Mrs. Godzilla
February 16th, 2009
7:40 am
Many of us have been aware of the problems at the FDA for years.
Risks of tainted food rise as inspections drop
Amid high-profile scares, FDA safety testing has fallen by half since 2003
Todays menu Includes: Spinach, Hamburger, Peanut Butter and for our canine pals Old Roy with melamine!
Rascal
February 16th, 2009
7:42 am
If government is chosen to do something, it always creates an illusion of providing a valuable service. Jay, I have asked you time and again to name one thing the government does well (better than the private sector could and does do it)and you have yet to write that column. Government created the illusion of providing oversight of the investment community, NOT, provides oversight of the food industry, NOT, oversight of airline safety, NOT, oversight of the medical community and procedures, NOT, education to our children, NOT. All government does is steal our resources, hire incompetents and provide jobs with no accountability, turn our economy into an over-and mismanaged mess and then blames everyone else. When was the last time you heard a government bureaucrat or a Democrat say that government has failed and should be replaced with the private sector. Awfully quiet Jay.
DB, Gwinnettian
February 16th, 2009
7:44 am
Our problem is not the lack of numbers of inspectors, but rather a Wild West regulatory system.
You sure the problem isn’t both?
Put another way–are there other states, or nations for that matter, where one inspector is supposed to effectively oversee >266 facilities?
With about 240 working days in a given year… how’s that supposed to work again?
DB, Gwinnettian
February 16th, 2009
7:45 am
All government does is steal our resources, hire incompetents and provide jobs with no accountability
But, enough about our Armed Services.
(jk.)
AJC/DNC Management
February 16th, 2009
7:46 am
Concerns fly over Georgia Power fee bill- As for the concept of advance payment for reactors, Oxendine said he could support the approach “if there were no other way to come up with the financing. My understanding is that it was not necessary.”-Urinal
I know that the AJC is using Republicans as human shields so that they can hide behind them and whine, but my question is this-
Why would a group of government loving libs, who have no issues whatsoever with uncontrolled federal spending of your tax dollars, whine and moan about a few dollars a month going to private company?
Do tell us, what’s the difference between a power bill and a tax bill?
Are they fretting over lost tax revenue?
Jon Smith
February 16th, 2009
7:48 am
The illusion of safety is the game of government. Unless you are a (guarded) politician, what you actually get is a set of laws, and a chance that they will investigate the crime after it happens. There is no personal right to protection.
In fact, the illusion of regulation (financial and other) is also part of their game. And don’t get me started on “taxpayer’s money.” You think it is your money? Try to spend it!
Taxpayer
February 16th, 2009
7:50 am
That would be 16000 facilities for 60 inspectors or about 267 facilities per inspector. Now, some back of the envelope idealizations: Assume first that an inspector works 49 weeks per year at 5 days per week. Also, assume that each facility visit requires a minimum of one day for the inspection and one day for the report, driving time, follow-up visits, phone calls, etc., for an average of 2 days per facility. So, each inspector has a total of about 245 days per year to do their job and they might ideally spend 2 days on each of 267 facilities that they are responsible for and that works out to mean that each facility can get at best about one visit per year and on top of that the visits are most likely pre-announced. So, you take a minimally trained inspector that is just trying to make a living on the 35 or 40k salary working in a preferentially laissez faire (aka, Republican) environment doing once a year walk throughs of plants that are not even required to share all of their information…It’s a recipe for disaster and now that people have died, it’s time to do the old song and dance with the finger pointing and looks of innocence. Then again, they are the party that Phil Gramm thrived in.
PT Carson
February 16th, 2009
7:51 am
Dear Mr. Bookman,
I think it’s wrong to blame the failure on the lack of inspectors working for the Georgia Agriculture Dept.
If it takes 3 hours to do one inspection, then each inspector should be able to get 2 inspections done per day.
If there are 220 work days per year and 60 inspectors this should yield about 26400 inspections per year.
Even if we would allow for more thorough inespections at less frequency, it seems that 60 productive inspectors could easily check on facilities once per 2 years.
So we don’t need more inspectors. This is a typical red herring first response. We failed because you didn’t pay us enough and because you didn’t care enough to do it ‘right’. This type of response from government just needs some back of the envelope validation to determine that it’s ridiculous and wrong. There are enough inspectors.
DB, Gwinnettian
February 16th, 2009
7:55 am
PT Carson @ 7.51, since you seem to know a great deal about food processing facility inspections, please answer my question posed @ 7.44, because I honestly don’t know.
“are there other states, or nations for that matter, where one inspector is supposed to effectively oversee >266 facilities?” More importantly, how’s that working out for them?
Taxpayer
February 16th, 2009
8:13 am
How many of you keep up with the restaurant inspection scores? Even the front-line folks that should know the basics in food preparation and that should be ensuring that proper procedures are followed don’t do it and they get inspected much more frequently and customers can even see a lot of what goes on first hand.
Inspectors, or a lack of, is not the only problem but it is an important link in the overall chain that is needed to protect everyone. We all should want safe food to eat and that takes commitment to something more substantial than “trust me” or “have faith” and that commitment needs to come from the top down (trickle down that works).
AJC/DNC Management
February 16th, 2009
8:15 am
Anybody who has ever been to a Post Office knows how much effort a government employee puts into their tax dollar funded job, almost none at all.
First of all, you do not have to go through each and every facility with a fine tooth comb, you can usually discern which places take care to avoid contamination by inspecting their records, reviewing their cleaning/ disinfection procedures and by the appearance of the place. Those that do not pass these standards would be candidates for a thorough top to bottom inspection.
Not to mention the fact that you can require the facility to conduct an independent investigation of their own facility, unless of course, they want the federal government crawling up their rear end.
But the first step in the process is finding within the massive, idiotic government bureaucracy an actual person that gives a F.
Good luck with that.
Dave R
February 16th, 2009
8:17 am
Rascal is right on point here.
When you rely on one entity who is virtually mandated to award their services to the lowest bidder, and then give them EVERY responsibility known to mankind, they can’t help but do everything badly. And its not the people trying to do their jobs that are heart of the problem; it is the mandated overreaching that cannot possibly be met by them.
I’d love to read Bookman’s ideas on what government does well that the private sector couldn’t do better. I suspect we’ll remain ignorant of Bookman’s thoughts (redundant, perhaps?) for a long time, Rascal
@@
February 16th, 2009
8:19 am
No need to grow government, jay, just shuffle the deck. How much money was set aside for ACORN in the stimulus bill? How much money goes to Planned Parenthood each year with the INTENTION to kill the unborn? They’re sitting on a huge reserve/profit.
Talk about goobers?
The federal government needs to prioritize the peanuts.
catlady
February 16th, 2009
8:19 am
PT, don’t forget lunch, driving time, and time to prepare the report.
RW-(the original)
February 16th, 2009
8:20 am
This column reminds me of an old cartoon called Fractured Fairy Tales. First we have the sad tale of how 60 inspectors couldn’t possibly oversee an “estimated” 16,000 sites, as if there were 16,000 wide scale food processing plants here, and the Jaybots dutifully chiming in about the need for yet more incompetent government employees.
Blaming a lack of government employees is no surprise in a liberal worldview, but you’ve got to love the hypothetical plot twist where we hold the elected Democrat agriculture chief harmless because he didn’t ask for more help from the elected Republican Governor that would have undoubtedly turned him down. Of course the Republican Governor, the first in Georgia in a hundred or so years, is near the end of his term limited eight years while the ag commish has held the job since 1969. The longest serving statewide official in the entire United States
Mrs. Godzilla
February 16th, 2009
8:27 am
PT CARSON:
So where does the 3 hour time frame come for inspections…..
I see Jay mentions “that inspector was one of just 60 employed by the state Department of Agriculture, and was able to spend just two or three hours at the plant.”
joe
February 16th, 2009
8:28 am
In China, the milk scandal netted the culprits death sentences. That would get the CEO’s attention, eh?
Taxpayer
February 16th, 2009
8:32 am
By the way, how did that guy that was trying to clean up Imperial Sugar’s mess ever end up. I mean, after the thorough grilling and reaming that Saxby subjected that poor guy to, you would think that he was the guilty party or at least that would be the impression that one might be left with after listening to Saxby attack this guy. Yes indeed, we need a strong commitment from the top down and it cannot be from people that have strong ties to the greedy and ignorant in private business. In matters such as these, the heads of departments such as the FDA, OSHA, EPD, etc., need to make that strong commitment and they need to be empowered to do so. Of course, that goes against a core Republican philosophy. What a quandary for Red States, eh.
e065702
February 16th, 2009
8:32 am
Rascal, are you serious?
There are MANY things the government does better than private business; educate ALL our children, deliver ALL our mail, provide insurance to ALL our citizens, Provide security (Police & Military) to ALL our citizens. Granted it is not our grade A service provider but it is a lot better than what the private sector offers in those areas, limited options only to those that can afford it.
I seem to remember that W. wanted to move all our Social Security into the Stock Market.
How do you think that would have worked out?
Do you drive on roads? Do you drink water? Do you flush your toilet?
The limitations on government oversight are ALWAYS where the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats (mostly from the South by the way) have crippled the regulatory body at the behest of the private sector. I mean what kind of law makes it optional to recall poisoned peanut butter? Do you think consumer safety advocates had that penciled in to enhance oversight?
Gimme a break!
I think you are one of those that truly believes you earned it on your own and that the government only gets in your way.
If you like unfettered free enterprise so much go move to India. It has limited government regulation, and lots of rich people.
The downside is all those small businesses in densely populated areas where their children work fulltime, and live in squalid conditions, but I doubt that would bother you much.
DB, Gwinnettian
February 16th, 2009
8:33 am
RW (and others) instead of trying to distract by calling some of us “Jaybots,” why don’t you just answer the question I posed?
if 60 inspectors is sufficient for this workload, do you have examples of other states (or nations) where this is typical, to back up your assertion that it’s the quality of inspection work that’s being done and not the quantity?
PC
February 16th, 2009
8:38 am
Sadly, we are missing a major point. Why are inspectors needed at all if the people running the business cared about others and wanted to do the best job to protect themselves, their company, the industry, and their customers? I am not foolish and realize that inspectors are needed. We lost a viable food inspection system during the Reagan administration. He essentially fired many federal inspectors because the industries could do their own inspections. Businesses were complaining that the inspectors were finding too many violations. Many people I knew warned that years down the line, public health will suffer. It has.
Rube Vogel
February 16th, 2009
8:41 am
Another major question is if the inspector would have found anything if she had spent a week at the plant instead of three hours. Are the FDAs inspection methods up to snuff?
John
February 16th, 2009
8:45 am
Remember Mad Cow disease, the Gov’t response to finding mad cow disease was to cut the number of cows tested for the disease. Miraculously they stopped finding cows with the disease. Now all of a sudden beef is safe again.
mm
February 16th, 2009
8:49 am
If the private sector took over inspections, you would end up with no inspections. What you would have is inspectors shaking down each plant for an A or B grade. When profits are at stake, you can’t trust corporations.
RW-(the original)
February 16th, 2009
8:50 am
DB Jaybot,
No
Mrs. Godzilla
February 16th, 2009
8:53 am
Can anybody answer how long it should take to inspect a food processing plant?
Take the Fresh Express plant south of the city….it’s mid size.
The Sara Lee Plant east of Jackson MS …is really, really big.
How about Hormel in Tucker?
3 hours? I don’t think so.
That’s the “all the time they had” number, not the amount of time required to do the job right number.
Think it’s safe to say that one size does not fit all.
Blame the American worker…..typical conservative nonsense.
RW-(the original)
February 16th, 2009
8:54 am
By the way, DB, I’m also going on blind faith that Georgia has 60 inspectors with no staff assistance. My gut tells me that probably isn’t the case anymore than there being 16,000 full scale food processing plants here.
Taxpayer
February 16th, 2009
8:54 am
I cannot argue that, at least in some cases, government employees are simply not competent and trustworthy enough to perform their required tasks satisfactorily — some military personnel over in Iraq, for example. Of course, the same can be said of some of the private businesses over there that are presumably working for we the people. The bottom line is that no one holds a monopoly on ignorance, incompetence, greed, etc., and that is even more reason to have good oversight and regulations with lots of transparency. It certainly beats a “Do Nothing” philosophy.
Sensors
February 16th, 2009
8:58 am
Modern technology permits inspection of almost every process including the food we eat. The core problem is that without 100% inspection techniques and automatic sorting and disposal of defective goods in place the industry will live by the illusion that quality is in control. Human beings can not assimilate the overwhelming amount of information to make the real time pass or fail decisions. IF you live by the illusion that batch sampling is “good enough” then think again.
Yes it is possible and MUCH CHEAPER to install inspection systems than continue to live in fear of an outbreak related to tainted food hitting the food supply chain. IF modern computing systems can be used to monitor web site traffic, telephone conversations, profile terrorists and the likes, they can certainly be employed to inspect food for defects. Problem is, most industries are living in the past and refuse to invest into technology to protect themselves and their customers.
So, to conclude, rather than just deal with problems, we masquerade and bully those with good ideas and technology needed to solve problems while we continue to live under the illusion that food, health care and pharmaceuticals are safe.
Taxpayer
February 16th, 2009
8:58 am
Mrs. G,
It can take weeks for a team of inspectors to properly conduct a preliminary inspection of a facility assuming that the entire facility, its documentation and processes are fully evaluated. Afterward, routine inspections can be performed in much less time and with less frequency under ideal conditions.
mm
February 16th, 2009
9:00 am
Pitiful McCain came out of self exile yesterday to make a fool out of himself. Can’t the GOP figure out that only 30% of the population cares what they think? Only 3 weeks into the Obama admin and they are going insane. This is going to be fun to watch.
jahlrichs
February 16th, 2009
9:00 am
Stewart Parnell is a person who made a selfish decision with the realistic hope he wouldn’t get caught. When any of us commit a selfish act the consequence can be very minor to severe (death of innocent people). What catastrophe will it take for our nation of relatively intelligent and hard working people to understand that when you put yourself before others our nation is weakened? If we all did our best to practice this one law this would be such a greater nation of people.
Bosch
February 16th, 2009
9:02 am
I know we all here like to cite one example as being proof positive for backing up our assertions, and well…
I know this guy who worked as a safety inspector for a chicken processing plant for many years. He was basically just there for show – the company like to tout to the regulators that they had a safety guy on the payroll, but everytime he had something bad to say – they treated his warnings like he was a crazy man. I really don’t know how he worked in such a hostile environment for so many years – with antagonistic relationships with his employers, but he said once that he did it because it had to be done – his conscious couldn’t let him otherwise.
By the way, this guy is no fun to do any kind of construction project with – he’s always got a story for what happened to someone who didn’t follow the safety rules – usually involving dismemberment, mutilation, or gruesome, bloody, painful death. But otherwise he’s a great guy, surprisingly enough one of the most honest men I’ve ever known.
Oh, and as I mentioned Saturday – pass on the lemons in restuarants – you don’t want to know what’s on those suckers.
Food Manufacturer
February 16th, 2009
9:03 am
While there are no doubt problems with the government inspectors, you cannot regulate compliance. The manufacturer must take on the full responsibility for making safe food along with all of the other responsbilities. That means that the owner, the president, the general manager must put Food Safety above all in their plant. Things happen on a constant basis that no regulator will ever catch. IF the owner has set the right tone, the workers will (by in large) stop unsafe practices.
My major complaint with the regulators is their unwillingness or inability to tell other manufacturers what they are finding wrong in other facilities. It took me about 1 year to find out what went wrong at Castelberry. When I asked my FDA inspectors, they simply wouldn’t or couldn’t tell. Why not? We need to know as it may help us make our facilities safer. When I found it the detailed story (not the crap the press prints), I ran a bunch of tests on our systems, found they were safe but also saw some potential problems. It was helpful.
As for Parnell, you can vilify him. It’s easy. The reporters, the politicians sit back and craft their stories for their benefit. If you really ever find out, there are lessons here that would likely help everyone in the food business. They’ll be deep, they’ll be important.
Bosch
February 16th, 2009
9:04 am
mm @ 8:49 –
The hammer hath hitteth the nail on the headeth.
sobe
February 16th, 2009
9:08 am
Don’t listen to the Republicon bastards who got us into, yes, this mess too.
Mrs. Godzilla
February 16th, 2009
9:09 am
Taxpayers….
Yes, I saw that on the FDA website, however 3 hours for a follow up in a plant like Sara Lee does not make sense.
gttim
February 16th, 2009
9:09 am
B-b-b-b-but the Free Market will take care of everything! Letting the market control itself, stuff like this won’t happen!
Get serious. The reason inspections are not working is that corporations own the government and government weakens the inspection methods and powers at every opportunity. If an inspector had reported the peanut company for contamination, Sonny would have made the inspector take back the report and call the corporation and apologize.
Dave R
February 16th, 2009
9:10 am
e065702,
Boy, are YOU indoctrinated with the Kool-aid!
Private schools teach students far better than government schools, and if each taxpayer didn’t have 75% or more of their homeowners tax forcibly taken from them each year for schools, and at least one or two cents of SPLOST taxes forcibly taken from them each year for schools, and 10% of their Federal income tax forcibly taken from them each year, we could all afford to send our kids to all the private schools that would be established to handle all the people who would gladly and voluntarily send their kids to those private schools.
Post office? Don’t even go there. I don’t need mail delivery every weekday and Saturdays, yet the business that is responsible for delivering mail has to THINK about cutting out one day out of six? How about cutting out as many days as it takes to break even or make a profit? And I for one could do without bulk mail from solicitations. Maybe if that part of the private sector had to pony up the REAL cost of mailing, they’d think twice about sending out junk mail.
And if you are thinking about Social Security as “insuring ALL our citizens” You’re barking up the wrong tree there, as well. I suggest you research the Galveston County, TX PRIVATE retirement plan, including the update following the stock market downturn after 9/11. Bottom-line, these people who decided to OPT-OUT of a Federally-mandated retirement plan STILL get more retirement money per month than their Federally-mandated peers, have their life insurance taken care of, and can afford PRIVATE health insurance premiums – all WITHOUT a cent of government assistance. And that’s for low-income earners in their plan as well as the higher wage earners. And yeah, ALL their money is in the stock market.
Oh, and President Bush only wanted to move PART of our money into the market, not all of it.
And while the military is a Federally-mandated entity, it is populated by an all-volunteer force today, which speaks well of the free actions of individuals, not of mandated actions.
And have you seen the City of Atlanta’s water and sewer department lately? Billions in long overdue repairs needed, over-billing due to software glitches. Great job, there.
And yes, I (I don’t know about Rascal) HAVE earned everything on my own. And government DOES get in the way.
There are private sector solutions to everything, and if Government would just stay out of them, the private sector could do them better and cheaper. Health insurance is one area. Government MANDATES minimum coverages (usually state-to-state) such as obstetrics, pediatrics, psychological, etc. If my wife and I are incapable of having children, or have no need for mental health services, I should be able to pick from a menu those services I CHOOSE to be covered under. Yet I still have to buy a plan that is MANDATED and budgeted for something that I will NEVER use, because my EMPLOYER is mandated to offer those services. Do you think health care costs would be lower if people chose to take only basic wellness and catastrophic (i.e. cancer) coverage, instead of all the things MANDATED by Government?
Bosch
February 16th, 2009
9:11 am
Another important thing here too, is that a large majority of Americans do not give a rat’s ass (no pun intended) about what they eat.
Case in point: fast food and Twinkies. What really IS a Twinkie anyway?
Gawins!
February 16th, 2009
9:18 am
Rascal: You;re a rascal indeed! Private sector is the failure! They knew what was going on; allowed it! Now you want to blame government for a private sector failure!
Where does Tommy Irvin get all the money it takes to run for office? He gets it from very people he regulates! Simple answer is if Tommy Irvin regulates, he won’t get contributions, and won’t get elected. We asked for it and we got it!
Put the fox in charge of the hen house?
Private sector? Phooey
Sensors
February 16th, 2009
9:19 am
Folks,,,,
Meanwhile,,,,, back at the ranch,,, this is about food safety…. Why track in political DIRT on the rug here. Want to find a solution or just bitch and moan.
We can only change the future.
@@
February 16th, 2009
9:20 am
OFF TOPIC! but what the hey….
Vote Ends Term Limits, Chavez Declares Victory
In South Florida, Venezuelans who went to cast their ballot on the term limit referendum experienced problems. Many were surprised to be turned away and told they couldn’t vote because they were listed as deceased.
Tibero Faria, who was born and raised in Venezuela, was denied the right to vote as well.
“I come to vote and I couldn’t because according to the registry I am deceased; I am dead,” said Faria, worried that communism is already creeping into his homeland. He says allowing Chavez to stay in power without term limits will only hurt his country.
The dems may wanna get those “dead people” registered here in the U.S.
Ed
February 16th, 2009
9:22 am
That’s why government’s can’t and shouldn’t regulate. That’s why we should grow locally. That’s why we should have simple rules, like you sell a product you know can kill people you go to jail. We need simpler and meaner laws, and less regulation. Regulations only employ bureaucrats, the don’t ensure safety.
DB, Gwinnettian
February 16th, 2009
9:25 am
“DB Jaybot”
That’s actually kinda funny. But seriously RW, absent actual figures, why should we assume that the inspectors have fabulous support staffs who can take their telegraphed report info and turn it into usable data, cross-checked and tabulated against useful metrics?
I could just as easily argue that the only support these people get is the clerk over in Accounting cuts their travel expense checks…
Oh, and another problem with your case: Fractured Fairy Tales rocked! Part of Jay Ward’s fabulous Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, of course.
Taxpayer
February 16th, 2009
9:27 am
Mrs. G,
I have not looked at the FDA site. I was just estimating, based on my own experience (not in the food industry) and education, what I thought it might take to conduct an initial inspection of a relatively large plant such as those owned by Wrigleys or Flowers.
JM817
February 16th, 2009
9:27 am
I did a little math. With 16,000 facilities and 60 regulators, each has 300 places to visit. Assuming our folks have two weeks of vacations and are allowed the normal Saturday and Sunday off, they have approximately 2000 hours available to complete the work. Since the facilities all over the state of Georgia it is highly likely that the investigators have to drive several hours per day to get to the job site. Let’s see how many of those places they actually visit.
Add to it the fact that, as one of your folks observed, the regulators lack sufficient authority even if they find problems, and you can see how things got messed up. Of course, we have several writers here who are sure that the private system would work better. Let’s think about that one. Two judges in Pennsylvania were recently jailed because they took bribes from the privately-owned juvenile prison system to provide lots of customers, over 2.5 times the number other judges “supplied.” For over 2 million, these judges were willing to find lots of children in need of custodial punishment. Do we really believe private conractors would be any less unwilling to find unhealthy food production sites to be just fine, if paid the right amount? The fact is that most of our “lower level” government employees do their jobs for the money they get paid and they don’t usually take bribes.
I am sick and tired of hearing about how the private sector can do it better. The private sector has been in charge of everything in this country for a very long time now, and look where we are. No one regulated and the foxes helped themselves to chickens, chickens, and more chickens. If the government is ever convinced to go to a voucher system, just wait and see how quickly the vouchers won’t be enough for poorer people to get their kids into good schools, but it sure will be nice for the upper income folks who will only need throw in the difference between their voucher and the school tuition to ensure that their children don’t have to hobnob with the “others.”