https://www.foxnews.com/health/fda-suspends-domestic-food-inspections-during-government-shutdown FDA suspends domestic food inspections during government shutdown As the partial government shutdown nears a third week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it’s been forced to suspend routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a series of tweets that the agency would continue its foreign food inspections, but it was cutting down on the number of domestic inspections to ensure the ability to continue monitoring high-risk facilities. Those deemed high-risk include facilities dealing with canned foods, seafood, certain bakery products, dairy products, and certain cheeses as well as unpasteurized juices, fruits and vegetables, spices, infant formula, and prepared salads among other items. According to The Washington Post, Gottlieb said he was working on plans to bring back the 150 currently furloughed inspectors as early as next week to specifically focus on high-risk facilities after the shuttering of the government forced him to cancel 50 high-risk inspections. Gottlieb noted that of the 160 weekly domestic food inspections routinely conducted by the FDA, about one-third of those are considered high-risk facilities. “We’re taking steps to expand the scope of food safety surveillance inspections we’re doing during the shutdown to make sure we continue inspecting high-risk food facilities,” Gottlieb tweeted, in part, on Wednesday. “31% of our inventory of domestic inspections are considered high risk.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 48 million people in the U.S. are sickened by foodborne illnesses each year, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.
Poll: Voters blame Trump, GOP for shutdown By STEVEN SHEPARD 01/08/2019 05:21 PM EST President Donald Trump faces a tall task in his Oval Office address on Tuesday night: convincing voters outside of his political base that there is an urgent crisis at the nation’s southern border, that a wall along the border is necessary to solve it, and it’s worth a government shutdown that has stretched for nearly three weeks. A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, conducted as the partial government shutdown reached its third week, reveals the scope of Trump’s challenge. A minority of voters agree with Trump’s description of a crisis of illegal immigration at the southern border. There’s only tepid support for the wall he wants to build there. Voters are opposed to shutting down the government to extract the funds for the wall’s construction — and more blame Trump and the GOP for the shutdown than Democrats. Nearly half of voters, 47 percent, say Trump is mostly to blame for the shutdown, the poll shows, while another 5 percent point the finger at congressional Republicans. But just a third, 33 percent, blame Democrats in Congress. https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-ame...-facing-little-blame-from-public-over-partial Poll shows voters blame Trump more than Dems for government shutdown 1/2/2019 Americans are pointing the finger at President Trump more than congressional Democrats as a partial government shutdown heads into its second week. In a new The Hill-HarrisX poll released Monday, only 22 percent of registered voters surveyed blamed Democrats for the shutdown, while 42 percent said President Trump was to blame. One-third of voters said that both parties in Congress and the president were all equally responsible. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/19/poll-voters-would-blame-trump-gop-for-shutdown-1068673 Poll: Voters would blame Trump, GOP for shutdown If parts of the federal government shut down later this week, most voters will blame President Donald Trump and Republicans over Democratic minorities in Congress, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-...t-responsible-govt-shutdown-35-cite-democrats Nearly half (48%) of Americans said President Donald Trump is the most responsible. “Who do you think is MOST to blame for the shutdown of the federal government?” Democrats in Congress: 35% Republicans in Congress: 4% Pres. Trump: 48% Not Sure: 13%
You do realize that the majority of food processing facilities in the U.S. merely self-report. There is no FDA inspector on-site the company simply sends a report at the end of each month to the FDA. Rarely (except for high risk places) does an FDA inspector ever show up on site. Some food processing facilities have not been inspected by an on-site inspector for years.
As the partial government shutdown nears a third week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it’s been forced to suspend routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities. Gottlieb noted that of the 160 weekly domestic food inspections routinely conducted by the FDA, about one-third of those are considered high-risk facilities.
Yes so of the 10s of thousands of food processing facilities in the U.S. the FDA only inspects 160 at most each week. The government shutdown is hardly going to impact food safety.
Oh, ok, I guess it takes multiple processing plants for an e coli outbreak then. Sometimes, it's just not worth defending the indefensible.
Yes,, since they did such a good job inspecting the lettuce. Here is the reality -- most food processing plants (except for a high risk ones) hardly ever see a FDA inspector. Normally they see an FDA inspector only once every few years... if ever. Most simply send in their monthly report filings. The FDA are still inspecting high risk, high volume food processing facilities and imports. The government shutdown is pretty meaningless for most U.S. food processing plants -- it simply means nobody is reading their pro-forma monthly reports. Claims that this will cause some sort of extreme health risk are completely unfounded.