What is in this article?:
- Will FSIS Furlough Hold The Food System Hostage?
- Cattlemen as political pawns
A beef industry already rocked by economic and environmental challenges could face another bump in the road late next week.
Cattlemen as political pawns
Scott George, NCBA president and a Cody, WY, beef producer, characterized Vilsack's announcement on an FSIS furlough as USDA using producers as pawns in its political wrangling with Congress. He’s right, of course. And the White House essentially backs up George’s contention in a fact sheet posted at whitehouse.gov, that is entitled “Examples of How the Sequester Would Impact Middle Class Families, Jobs and Economic Security.”
Describing how the furlough of federal inspectors “would impact middle-class families, jobsand economic security,” the fact sheet says, "These reductions could increase the number and severity of safety incidents, and the public could suffer more foodborne illness, such as the recent salmonella in peanut butter outbreak and the E. coli illnesses linked to organic spinach, as well as cost the food and agriculture sector millions of dollars in lost production volume."
