COVID-19 has been brutal on the industry. We have seen major producers temporarily shut down, entire segments put out of business, regional disruptions and politicians getting involved in the manufacture and distribution of meat and poultry.
Another recall just came across the news feed. A few minutes before that, there was a news flash about a foodborne outbreak. It got me to thinking: What is the correlation, if any, between the foodborne outbreaks and recalls?
The hot topic of the day is the new swine inspection rule. There appears to be a lot of fake news being tossed around, at the very least a lot of information about how this is going to affect industry and how the consumer is being left out.
The variability in capabilities at the state and local levels often results in botched investigations and turf battles, and sometimes there isn't any prevention of illness or reduction in the number of people who become ill or die.
The last year has been one of change. We have a new administration, which includes a new acting undersecretary for food safety and a new acting administrator.