USDA: After the cow's out, close the barn door

Today U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ed Schaffer announced a new policy for naming names on recalls of meat due to unsanitary packing plant conditions, or other suspected disease infestations.

Now that USDA has driven at least three packing plants out of business this year alone, bankrupt and hundreds of jobs lost, an actual policy is being announced. Think it's a little too late?

Actually, its too little, too late. When there's a recall, its only a sign that USDA inspectors fell down on the job, and rather than get a problem solved when it was minor and manageable, they let it fester and become a fullblown crisis. Inspectors need to watch closely, and change habits as they go along, rather than wink and grin, letting the packers think they can get away with something.

The public health and safety is already endangered--potential sickness unleashed, if you will--by the time a recall occurs. USDA is really only doing its job effectively when they act far before its gets to that point.

USDA's new policy amounts to closing the barn door after the cow's out.