March 15, 2013

 

US may witness meat shortages and price hikes due to furloughs

 

 

The US may see shortages and price hikes for meat this summer if federal food safety inspectors decide to implement lengthy furloughs, said the country's top agriculture official.

 

US Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, criticised the drastic budget cuts, known as sequestration, warning of logjams for farmers, processors and consumers.

 

Sequestration requires a 5% federal slash to all line items; salaries and other "frontline" inspection costs make up all but 3% of USDA's US$1 billion food safety budget. Even if Vilsack eliminated non-personnel expenses altogether, the savings wouldn't cancel the need for 11-day furloughs, said the official.

 

Federal law requires the USDA seal of approval on beef, poultry and pork. Furloughs to the nation's 6,200 meat inspectors and 3,000 support staffers would almost certainly lead to plant shutdowns and supermarket shortages.

 

"We have to have inspectors on site in order to produce the product that's sold to consumers," added Vilsack.

 

Furloughs could begin as early as July.

 

According to the Georgia Poultry Federation, the average poultry plant processes about 250,000 birds daily, which is about 2.75 million unprocessed chickens per plant during an 11-day furlough.

 

Tennessee Poultry Association's Executive Director, Dale Barnett, said inspection delays allow chickens to gain more weight, presenting additional challenges for packaging and processing.

 

The cutbacks could affect three poultry processing plants in Chattanooga -- two operated by Pilgrim Pride and one by Koch Foods. The local plants employ about 2,000 employees and process birds from hundreds of area chicken farm.

 

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, of Georgia, and others have questioned Vilsack's alarm and lack of detail. They say agriculture officials could consolidate rental space, eliminate travel dollars and reduce operating costs instead of furloughing safety middlemen between farm and table.

 

Vilsack argues the limitation caused by the sequestration's structure. Congress allowed no flexibility in terms of shifting money from less essential programmes to food safety.