The Dirty Truth about the Filthy Chicken Rule

With Memorial Day fast approaching, many of you are no doubt thinking about what you’ll serve at your summer cookouts—it’s grilling season after all. While nobody likes to think about the fact that the food they’re serving their friends and families might not be safe to eat, the reality of our current food system is that many well-known brands of poultry products are poorly inspected and may pose risk for foodborne illnesses.

That’s because due to the new National Poultry Inspection System (NPIS), many popular brands of chicken—ones you see in the grocery store, and may even buy—sell products that may have come from plants where inspection responsibilities that should be entrusted to trained USDA inspectors have instead been given to company employees.

Some of the biggest names in the poultry industry—Tyson, Butterball, Perdue and Pilgrim’s Pride—are participating in a controversial new program that removes trained USDA inspectors from slaughter lines and gives their responsibilities over to company employees.

This is a big deal. Virtually eliminating government inspectors and replacing them with chicken company employees may save a few dollars, but it comes at too high a price—our safety.

The NPIS system has been run as a pilot project since 1998; last year some poultry plants started to operate under it. Under the new system, government inspectors are moved off slaughter lines leaving only one USDA inspector to actually inspect carcasses.

That lone inspector is responsible for evaluating up to 2.33 birds per second in broiler chicken plants; in turkey slaughter facilities, they’re expected to inspect one turkey carcass per second. Company employees are chiefly responsible for identifying and dealing with defects and food safety problems. In other words—the companies are policing themselves.

Tyson, Butterball, Perdue and Pilgrim’s Pride are participating in a controversial new program that removes trained USDA inspectors from slaughter lines and gives their responsibilities over to company employees.

According to records we received from USDA via the Freedom of Information Act, forty-one plants participate in the NPIS system, including some of the biggest names in the poultry industry—Tyson, Butterball, Perdue and Pilgrim’s Pride. These companies sell poultry products under dozens of brand names, and not just to grocery stores—many school lunch programs and other institutions buy poultry from companies that use NPIS plants.

That lone inspector is responsible for evaluating up to 2.33 birds per second in broiler chicken plants; in turkey slaughter facilities, they’re expected to inspect one turkey carcass per second.

It could soon be even more difficult to avoid products slaughtered at NPIS plants—USDA is actively encouraging more to participate, and the program is open to all poultry plants. The agency estimates that eventually, 99.9 percent of all domestic poultry would be produced by plants operating under the new rules.

But consumers have a right to know if their food is coming from a plant with inadequate inspection practices so they can avoid potentially unsafe poultry. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to look up the establishment number on the packaging to see if it corresponds to an NPIS plant. We’ve provided a list of plants here, since USDA certainly isn’t going to.

Since it’s completely ridiculous to expect shoppers to bring a spreadsheet to the store, the only real solution is to stop the implementation of this system altogether.

Take action today to tell Secretary Vilsack to stop the NPIS system and make sure that poultry inspection—an important public health function—is performed by independent government inspectors.

You can help by urging the USDA to discontinue this program that puts industry profits above the safety of consumers. Take action today to tell Secretary Vilsack to stop the NPIS system and make sure that poultry inspection—an important public health function—is performed by independent government inspectors.