Chicken plants allowed to replace most federal inspectors with factory employees

By Casey Toner | ctoner@al.com
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on March 17, 2015 at 12:20 PM

In his 29-years overseeing the factory lines at Alabama poultry plants, federal inspector Charles Stanley Painter has seen some things that have made his stomach churn.

"It's not kosher to take chickens out of the drains and put them on the lines, but I saw it happen," said Painter, National Joint Council of Food Inspection Local Unions chairman. ... "It's not kosher to drop chickens on the floor and put them back in the product flow and I saw that happen ... None of those things are kosher and it happens on a daily basis."

And it's only going to get worse under a new federal regulations that are set to take effect later this year, he contends. Some federal officials say the changes instead will modernize inspections and reduce foodborne bacteria.
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The new rules emerge from a public-private experiment where 20 chicken plants -- including four in Alabama -- were allowed to self-regulate.