GAO investigators found that of the 844 audits the USDA conducted of meatpackers during a three-year period, 64 percent had inaccuracies or missing information. And while the USDA said the number of inaccuracies was small for the amount of information collected, the GAO reported that the USDA also identified 46 instances with 22 meatpackers sending erroneous information that might affect the accuracy of the government's livestock market reports.
Some packers did not promptly fix problems identified by the USDA, the GAO found.
The GAO also reported that the USDA did not include all prices in its reports. In some cases, the report said, officials left out high and low prices that appeared to be aberrations but did not tell industry sources that some prices were omitted.
Amazing isn't it. The USDA fails to keep an eye on the big meat packers, who control the USDA. Did you know the USDA also inspects the plants themselves for safety and cleanliness? Makes you wonder. Having the meat packers, through the USDA, police themselves is not a safe idea.
There is something wrong in a government where they who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at banquets. Robert Green Ingersoll
