Appeals court says USDA can't let company workers inspect meat

WASHINGTON - Government meat inspectors must do hands-on examinations of carcasses and can't leave the job to employees of processing plants, an appeals court said Friday in ruling against an experimental program supported by consumer advocates.

Under the program, the Agriculture Department has pulled its inspectors from slaughter lines in selected plants and assigned them to do more testing for pathogens and to oversee the company workers.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled unanimously that federal laws require meat to be inspected by USDA employees, not packing plant workers.

''The government believes that federal employees fulfill their statutory duty to inspect by watching others perform the task. One might as well say that umpires are pitchers because they carefully watch others throw baseballs,'' the court said.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents the department's inspectors, sued USDA in 1998 to stop the project. But a federal judge allowed the department to go ahead last fall, agreeing with USDA that its inspectors were not required to handle every carcass so long as they kept an eye on the meat.

The appeals court decision sends the case back to the lower court. Agriculture Department officials said they were disappointed by the court's decision.

''We are confident that the products from these plants are safe and wholesome,'' Beth Gaston, a spokeswoman for the department's Food Safety and Inspection System said, referring to the 30 plants in the program.

''However, we have not made any industrywide changes in the slaughter inspection system and will only propose to do so if the scientific data supports changes,'' she added.

Government inspectors have traditionally stood at fixed points along slaughter lines and checked carcasses for signs of disease or infection. USDA officials say it's a better use of the inspectors' time to sample for fecal contamination and harmful microbes than handle the meat, since bacteria can't be detected by the naked eye.

Groups like Consumers Federation of America have supported the program. But Bobby Harnage, president of the union, said the ruling was ''a great victory for consumers. USDA is no longer allowed to abdicate its responsibility for food safety.''

At last 16 poultry plants had agreed to participate in the program.