TOPICS
TOPICS
Impending retirements could threaten food safety, study says
Hundreds of federal meat inspectors are eligible for retirement just when their expertise is most needed to implement revised food safety requirements after the first case of mad cow disease was diagnosed in December, according to a recent study by the Partnership for Public Service.
Employees are eligible for retirement at age 55, depending on the number of years they have served in the federal workforce. In a state-by-state analysis of food inspectors, consumer safety inspectors and veterinary medical sciences professionals with the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), the nonpartisan Partnership found that more than 1,000 employees are over age 60 - as much as 50 percent of the federal food safety workforce in Nevada, and 20 percent to 30 percent of the workforce in Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Montana and New Hampshire. FSIS is the Agriculture Department agency responsible for ensuring the safety of meat, poultry and egg products in the United States.
Only 409 FSIS employees nationwide are under age 30, suggesting an out-of-balance workforce.
FSIS spokesman Steven Cohen says the agency plans to hire as many as 80 inspectors this year, bolstering the workforce of 7,500 meat and poultry inspectors who monitor nearly 6,500 meat processing facilities nationwide.
The Partnership for Public Service report is based on June 2003 data provided by the Office of Personnel Management. Among Agriculture Department employees in general, half will be eligible for retirement during the next five years, the study found.
"It's a critical situation at FSIS as well as at a variety of other agencies," says Partnership president Max Stier. "This is an example of a function that is vital and of immediate relevance. We're pointing out that the people we expect to handle these types of situations are here today, but it's not clear that they'll be here tomorrow."
Similar trends are hurting other agencies, Stier said, most notably those responsible for preparing for and responding to biological terrorism.
"The workforce is aging rapidly and [agencies do] not have in place either a talent pipeline or a recruitment strategy to get the very best in to replace those who are leaving," Stier said.
COMMENTS
- I wonder if the White House will now keep it's mouth shut and stop downsizing and rightsizing and early (forced) outs and contracting work (and quality) out? Realistically, I'd have to say probably not. Certainly not if there's a buck to be made here somewhere, even if it is at the public's expense. Art Doss Posted January 23, 2004 12:55 PM
- I'm sure nobody at FSIS or USDA ever thought about this. I mean these folks have worked for most of their careers in these communities; raised their children there and now are thinking about retiring! These are highly paid and technical jobs and are all clearly inherently governmental. We need to hire thousands of more federal inspectors to keep our food stuffs safe from the likes of Tyson and Swanson. This is 2004 not 1930! I mean 7,000 inspectors for 6,500 meat processing plants - come on USDA - it takes years to become proficient in this work and it's important that a well paid, long-term federal employee familiar with a particular processing plant is doing this work. I would not feel safe knowing an independent USDA contractor was doing this work, even if the contractor used federal retirees. No, this is a major USDA problem. We need to hire and train new federal employees now! Given the projected turnover, it may be time to build a new USDA federal training center for this kind of work! GovExec.com reader Posted January 23, 2004 7:46 AM
- The Food Safety and Inspection Service has a much bigger problem than a rapidly aging workforce. I worked for FSIS and would never work for them again. Many, many former FSIS employees that I have spoken with feel exactly the same way. FSIS has a really serious culture problem reflected in management and labor's inability to work together for the good of the mission. They have a serious grade problem where FDA food inspectors make at least two grades more for very similar work and where manager pay at FSIS is pitiful. They have a serious morale problem-- I'm not at all surprised it was APHIS rather than FSIS that discovered this cow. The best way to improve FSIS is to install new leadership at all levels of the agency, and to not only get input from the field inspectors but to use such input for improving the mission. I was ecstatic the day I left FSIS, Former FSIS employee GovExec.com reader Posted January 22, 2004 4:04 PM
