Chuck Grassley: “In 1968 the Congress of the United States passed the Wholesome Poultry Product Act of 1968. A former Congressman from…”

“In 1968 the Congress of the United States passed the Wholesome Poultry Product Act of 1968. A former Congressman from Iowa by the name of Neal Smith--Members of the present Congress will remember--was a person who served the people of Iowa very well and spent a considerable amount of time during his years in Congress trying to build consumer confidence in poultry and other meats American consumers buy. In 1960, there were 1.8 billion chickens produced in the United States and consumed by the public. In 1998, it was up to 8 billion chickens. There has been a very dramatic rise in the consumption of chicken by the American consumer, all the more reason to make sure the Wholesome Poultry Products Act of 1968 is followed. There is a dismal picture painted about the inspection of poultry slaughterhouses in the United States and some question about whether the meat consumed by the American public is as wholesome as the 1968 act intended. This question arises because of a proposal in the Department of Agriculture to shift some routine Federal inspection from Federal inspectors to inspectors hired by the poultry slaughtering companies.”