US inspection ‘misses’ results in higher recalls
Dr Regina Tan from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), said: "We’re still only in January and, last year, we were in the high 80s in the number of recalls. This year we’re projecting 252 recalls if we keep at the pace we’ve seen this month. I don’t think industry wants to see that number of recalls."
She said that part of the reason behind the increases was down to the failure to present for inspection when it came to imported products, and the fact that FSIS was focusing greater attention on this area.
Part of the problem is down to confusion within the inspection system, with transportation companies not understanding the difference between animal and plant safety inspections and food safety inspections and missing the secondary check.
She called on the wider meat industry to work with their suppliers and transportation partners to increase awareness of the systems and cut back on the instances in which products were not presented for inspection.
