The record recall last weekend of 143 million pounds of ground beef illustrates a key gap that remains despite recent federal efforts to bolster food safety: The quality of government inspections continues to vary sharply around the country, food safety experts say.
"You go to one plant, and they do an excellent job," said Temple Grandin, an animal-handling expert at Colorado State University who regularly visits plants and helped develop industry guidelines on proper practices. "You go to another, and they don't."
U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors frequently miss violations during daily checks of the more than 200 slaughterhouses around the country, and some inspectors ignore warning signs, she said. Based on her observations, Grandin estimates that at least 10 percent of meat companies try to sidestep regulations.
"Our inspection program for foods, whether at the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] or USDA, needs to be revisited," said Michael Doyle, a food safety expert at the University of Georgia, referring to the two federal food safety agencies.
The USDA denied that enforcement was insufficient and emphasized that the government employs many types of safeguards, including plant inspections, to prevent food contamination.
"We know our inspectors were correctly inspecting the plant," said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
On Sunday, Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. of Chino, Calif., withdrew millions of pounds of ground beef - and the government barred further sales - after an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States showed workers using electric prods and forklifts to move apparently sick cattle for slaughter.
The cattle apparently showed signs of illness during a period between getting a clean bill of health by inspectors and being slaughtered. Federal rules require veterinarians to be contacted in such cases, but the calls were not made in this case.
The problems came to light after the Humane Society surreptitiously videotaped treatment of the cattle last fall. The Department of Agriculture said most of the meat, including 37 million pounds sent to schools and other federal nutrition programs, has probably been eaten and that there is no evidence that anyone became sick from it.
Critics have long argued that the federal government employs an insufficient number of inspectors. Overworked government inspectors don't always catch violations during safety checks, and some fail to enforce rules designed to prevent contamination of the food supply, according to experts.
Government rules bar slaughtering cows that, like those on the video, cannot walk. The aim is to prevent meat infected with mad cow disease and other bacteria from contaminating the food supply.
Grandin blamed the Westland/Hallmark recall on faulty enforcement of a clear violation. "They had an inspector who wasn't doing his job, plain and simple," she said.
Agriculture Department inspectors check every slaughterhouse for problems every day. Yet enforcement varies enough that big buyers of meat, such as McDonald's, Burger King and Whole Foods Market, hire their own inspectors to visit slaughterhouses as well and make sure good practices are followed, Grandin said.
While that extra layer of inspection helps prevent problems at the larger meat suppliers contracting with responsible purchasers, some smaller firms escape stringent scrutiny. The unscrupulous among them try to flout the rules, Grandin said.
"We have to be concerned about this in 10 or 15 percent of the plants," said Grandin, who works with industry trade groups and food companies to make sure animals are handled properly.
Grandin said inspections would improve with better training of inspectors and efforts to retain quality supervisors.
Eamich, of the USDA, said inspectors at the Westland/Hallmark plant had been excluding an average of eight sick animals a week from slaughter, and the department's investigation found that the mistreatment documented on the video was an exception to its practices.
After contamination of produce, peanut butter and pet food, critics in Congress and elsewhere have called on the government to hire more food inspectors and check for problems at every step along the food supply chain.
The Bush administration has proposed changes, including stationing inspectors overseas.
The Humane Society secretly taped mistreatment of sick cows at Westland/Hallmark last fall and released the video Jan. 30. Since then, the local prosecutor has charged two plant workers with animal cruelty, and the Agriculture Department has barred further sales by the company and started an investigation.
Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society's president and chief executive officer, said the meat plant was chosen at random, which suggested to him that the slaughtering of sick animals is widespread and requires more and stronger government attention.
"I think there should be a SWAT team that can roll around to high-risk plants and do a deeper dive," he said. "The inspector here was certifying 500 animals a day based on a cursory inspection. If the animals could stand, they could be certified. That's a low standard."
jonathan.rockoff@baltsun.com