Just found out the USDA shutdown in 2019 cost us 2,200 lost federal meat inspectors for 35 days

Ran across that stat in a food safety newsletter this morning and I had no idea that many inspectors were missing during that whole mess, has anyone else seen their local processing plants get backed up from stuff like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

harperg7628d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, that's 2,200 inspectors gone for over a month? How did anyone even keep things running at that point? I remember seeing stuff about plants having to dump milk and stuff, but I didn't realize the inspector shortage went that deep.

river_allen28d ago

My uncle's dairy operation lost about 30% of his herd that month because we couldn't get anyone to sign off on the milk. The inspector who normally covered our area was one of the ones furloughed, and the backup guy was already stretched thin covering three other plants. We ended up dumping around 8,000 gallons over three weeks because the tanker couldn't leave without the inspection stamp. After that shutdown, he started working with a backup dairy three counties over just to have an escape route if it ever happened again. It's the kind of thing that makes you realize how much of the food system is held together by like 100 people who actually know what they're doing.

milacraig28d ago

A buddy of mine, @harperg76, runs a small butcher shop over in Des Moines. He told me how during that 2019 shutdown he had a whole load of pork shoulder sitting in a cooler for an extra two weeks because the plant he worked with just couldn't get an inspector on site. Ended up having to cut the price in half and sell it fast, barely broke even on that batch. He still gets nervous whenever he hears talk about budget freezes or shutdowns, says it messes with his whole supply chain for months after.

the_lee28d ago

Wow, that's wild. I had no idea it was that many inspectors either. I've got a buddy who runs a small processing operation out east and he still talks about that shutdown like it was yesterday, said it took him almost six months to get his regular suppliers back to normal after all the chaos.