One Industry’s Private Game of Chicken

In most of the country the weather is finally getting warmer and the imagery of baby chickens and pastel eggs surround us – but yellow fuzzy chicks aren’t just a symbol for spring and Easter. They’re also part of the $38 billion poultry industry and a controversial proposal by the USDA to privatize poultry inspection.

In 2012, the USDA announced a proposal to expand a pilot program known as “HACCP-based Inspection Models Project” (or HIMP for short) that allows the poultry industry to reject government inspectors and allow company employees to police themselves. That’s right: The fox is literally guarding the hen house.

Obviously this is a big deal, so we created an infographic you can share about the 7 things you should know about the USDA’s plan to privatize poultry inspection. When you click on the image you will learn more about what you can do to speak out about this urgent issue.

Taxpayers have long been able to rely on public inspection of the food we eat thanks to the accountability and oversight built into a public inspection system. As you’ll see from the infographic, giving away control of food inspection to for-profit corporations literally has life or death consequences for all of us who eat poultry.

Please take the time to learn about HIMP by reading our infographic, and when you’re done, please share the graphic with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Together we can ensure important public health programs like poultry inspection remain strong and under our control.