“AFGE has appealed Judge Lamberth’s ruling because we strongly believe that American consumers are best protected when federal inspectors, not industry employees, carry out meat and poultry inspection,” said AFGE National President Bobby L. Harnage.
In its earlier decision, the Court of Appeals held that federal meat and poultry laws clearly require that a federal inspector closely examine each carcass slaughtered for human consumption to determine whether it is adulterated. The Appeals Court then remanded the case back to the District Court for an order consistent with its opinion.
Openly disagreeing with the Court of Appeals that the meat and poultry laws plainly establish the government’s inspection function, Judge Lamberth ruled, instead, that the laws were sufficiently ambiguous to permit USDA to delegate its statutory inspection duty to the industry.
AFGE, representing 5,300 federal food inspectors, is the largest federal employees union in the United States. Go to www.afge.org and learn more about AFGE.
###