The footage -- which shows pigs being thrown across the room, and being castrated and having their tails removed without painkillers -- was taken by advocacy group Mercy for Animals at Iowa Select Farms from mid-April to mid-June of this year, just as Iowa state officials were debating a proposed bill that would criminalize such recordings.
A disappointing loss for food safety regulation took place June 16 when the agriculture appropriations bill passed the House by a vote of 217 to 203. It's not really a surprise, given Republicans' recent deficit-cutting priorities and apparent reliance on the food industry policing itself. As Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), the bill's author, justified it on the House floor:
“The food supply in America is very safe because the private sector self-polices, because they have the highest motivation. They don’t want to be sued, they don’t want to go broke. They want their customers to be healthy and happy.”
With outbreaks left and right, our food system is certainly in need of better oversight. Government officials need to resist BigAgra lobbyists' charms and focus on protecting the citizens who put them in office. But big business, not food safety, seems to be on the mind of some House Republicans who suggest giving industry the power to inspect itself rather than spending money on funding government inspections.
A bill that recently passed the House Appropriations Committee lacks the necessary funds for our regulatory agencies to function successfully. In addition to the bill's text, a supplemental report meant to explain the legislation includes the expansion of a controversial inspection program for U.S. meat and poultry. This pilot program, HIMP (HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project), essentially shifts the responsibility of determining our food safety from USDA inspectors to the companies themseves. Anytime the fox is guarding the henhouse we’re putting ourselves in a sticky situation.
But it gets worse – meat and poultry industry employees don’t have whistleblower rights. What if the employees charged with assuring that carcasses aren’t contaminated with feces witness a food safety problem? Without whistleblower protections, industry higher ups could easily (and often do) stifle workers’ voices.
In 2001, the Government Accountability Office strongly criticized HIMP for multiple weaknesses, and there has yet to be a thorough independent analysis of the pilot program since then. Now there is a proposal to increase the use of this program - regardless of its possible impacts on food safety. Looks like some lawmakers are more preoccupied with cutting costs upfront than preventing future illnesses.
But as food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk articulated, "foodborne disease is economically significant." Preventing outbreaks and the ensuing millions of dollars spent on medical care and public health resources … that's what saves money. Effectively funding and staffing the USDA and FDA, as well as ensuring legal protections for whistleblowers, will better equip the agencies to do just that.
Sarah Damian is Social and New Media Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower advocacy organization.
Holding food producers accountable for the products they market for consumption is essential, but the lack of oversight (or acquiescence of corruption, rather) in China necessitates greater scrutiny of U.S. imports and those who inspect them.
The health and safety of individuals have been threatened by tainted products in nearly every sector of China’s food and agriculture (fruit, meat, vegetables, pasta, steamed buns, cooking oil, etc.), with more than 1,000 cases so far this year, according to the Chinese news service Xinhua. The article states that 57 government staff are under investigation for taking bribes and "for dereliction of duty" in several dozen food safety cases, including drug-tainted pork. Furthermore:
The dereliction of duty by government staff caused huge losses, the official said, giving an example that the infraction of rules by two officials from the animal husbandry bureau of Jiyuan, Henan Province, caused more than 30 million yuan (4.6 million U.S. dollars) in losses.
The two breached rules by not conducting tests of the banned additive clenbuterol, which was fed to pigs to stop them from accumulating fat, on pigs sent to food factories.
Whistleblowers, particularly in China, already have a tough time trying to report wrongdoing in the food industry, despite being in the position to stop contaminated food from reaching consumers. These truth-tellers face even more obstacles than usual when those in charge of monitoring the food supply are actually in cahoots with industry.
But this issue has become so rotten that the government can’t cover it up. Local media has even been given freer reign to report on food safety issues. Police departments in the country have also made efforts to crack down on food crimes, including "publicizing complaint hotlines." Maybe whistleblowers will now be credited instead of silenced, like the father of a foodborne illness victim from the 2008 melamine scandal.
To say that transparency around food production in China lacks integrity is an understatement. The situation is quite alarming given the fact that 1) China is the fourth largest exporter of food to the U.S., and 2) our regulation of food imports is extremely insufficient. A Washington Post exposé earlier this month explained the limited ability of the FDA to inspect Chinese food importers, only being able to focus on certain high volume companies.
Irene Chan, assistant country director for FDA's China office in Beijing, added that "she and her colleagues face language and cultural barriers, and challenges getting data and being told the 'true story.'"
Clearly afraid of getting in trouble, representatives from one Chinese company lied to FDA inspectors and said they didn't ship to the U.S., Time Magazine reported. Even though the agency receives "scores of tips about unsafe imported food each year," the article writes, "FDA inspects only about 1% of the roughly 10 million products shipped into the country annually."
Last week, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor explained that because of the agency's limitations, most import monitoring is performed by third party auditors. He pointed out that they lack standards and may have conflicts of interest, but he claimed that the recently passed Food Safety Modernization Act aims to standardize import regulation and address those concerns.
According to Time Magazine, though, the FDA plans to hire hundreds of third-party certifiers to inspect overseas food facilities. One certifier looking forward to reap the benefits of this plan is Bureau Veritas, a French company that already advises Walmart (whose biggest trading partner is China) on how the retail giant's food products can meet U.S. safety standards. A rep from the French firm said he sees the law as an opportunity for more business. I'm not sure how reassuring that is for consumers, but who knows if FDA will even be able to carry out its hirings and actually implement the new law, as funding uncertainty remains.
Food safety reports in China and debate over imports won't end any time soon. What we need are more people within industry and the government that are safe enough politically to stop food scandals in their tracks.
Sarah Damian is Social and New Media Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower advocacy organization.
On May 20, GAP joined fellow members of the Safe Food Coalition in sending a joint letter to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, praising her efforts to improve USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Specifically, the letter applauds Rep. DeLauro's proposal to create a science-based panel to analyze and develop recommendations for modernizing the agency's meat and poultry safety procedures.
The letter also highlights the recent report that identifies the riskiest food-pathogen combinations -- of which meat and poultry top the list -- reinforcing the need to improve the safety of these products (and address the concerns that whistleblowers continue to raise).
The Sacramento Bee reported on a new three-year research project that aims to study various types of housing for egg-laying hens and their impact on food safety, worker safety, environmental impact, animal welfare and food affordability. It all sounds well and good on the surface until you look at who is actually putting the study together and in what context. Big industry has initiated this effort, labeled "the first of its kind," as a means to supposedly fill the gap in scientific knowledge around egg production. But really this is nothing new—industry exploring how best to protect its pocket.
A coalition of more than 100 groups, including the Government Accountability Project, has put together a comprehensive list of policy recommendations to improve government transparency and public access to information about environmental and public health. Key elements of GAP's Food Integrity Campaign (FIC) goals, stronger whistleblower protection and food system transparency, are included in the 102-page report, titled An Agenda to Strengthen Our Right to Know: Empowering Citizens with Environmental, Health and Safety Information.
GAP coalition partner OMB Watch headed the effort and hosted a working conference in November 2010 on transparency obstacles currently facing the Obama administration and necessary systemic changes that must be implemented.
In addition to many significant recommendations, the report asserts the necessity of updating federal whistleblower protection, which can be seen in the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) that was re-introduced in the Senate last month. It also emphasizes the "zero tolerance" mentality the government must take when it comes to whistleblower harassment. Retaliation against whistleblowers of any kind is unacceptable, especially given their essential role in society. From the report:
Whistleblowers have played vital roles in protecting environmental and public health by exposing waste, fraud, or abuse within the government and at industrial facilities. Whistleblowers have defended agency science from political distortions, raised alarms over pesticide safety, disclosed shoddy inspections of oil rigs, and revealed numerous other activities that threaten health and the environment.
FIC staff can attest to the importance of whistleblowers who have unveiled tremendous violations in the food system. Frequent retaliation against truth-tellers shows that the food and agriculture industries have much to hide, which is shameful considering that food production directly impacts the safety and health of everyone. As public servants, government officials have the responsibility to pry open the factory farm doors.
The report calls on the USDA and EPA to collect and disclose basic data on industrial animal facilities. It's ridiculous that information such as how many CAFOs are operating, and where, isn't already available, and are, in fact, "unknown even by the government agencies in charge of regulating such facilities." Stats on CAFO pollution and chemical use in livestock should, among other things, be open to the public. States facing agriculture transparency battles, like Idaho and Iowa, shouldn't be able to give in to industry lobbying that intends to protect industrial agriculture’s routine secrecy.
Other recommendations include adequate product labeling (including genetically modified food), better tracking of food products along the supply chain, improved worker safety, and increased worker participation in government inspections. The report also stresses that government openness allows for more public participation in developing the policy that affects them, and suggests ways to increase opportunities for civic engagement.
OMB Watch submitted the report this week to the Obama administration on behalf of the coalition. We hope U.S. decision makers take up these recommendations and utilize transparency as a way to protect food integrity (by protecting workers and consumers).
Sarah Damian is Social and New Media Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower advocacy organization.
But it gets worse – meat and poultry industry employees don’t have whistleblower rights. What if the employees charged with assuring that carcasses aren’t contaminated with feces witness a food safety problem? Without whistleblower protections, industry higher ups could easily (and often do) stifle workers’ voices. 
A coalition of more than 100 groups, including the Government Accountability Project, has put together a comprehensive list of policy recommendations to improve government transparency and public access to information about environmental and public health. Key elements of GAP's Food Integrity Campaign (FIC) goals, stronger whistleblower protection and food system transparency, are included in the 102-page report, titled 