WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 13 U.S. senators has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to move forward with a proposal to modernize the department's poultry inspection system.
The voluntary change would allow plant employees to check carcasses for defects and perform other quality-assurance tasks not related to food safety. That would free up some federal inspectors to focus more on food safety-related tasks, such as oversight and verification, microbiological testing for pathogens, sanitation standards and antimicrobial controls in the plant.
Signing the letter were Senators Roy Blunt. . .