Name: Edward R. Miller
Background: Miller, 56, has a bachelor`s degree in agriculture from Kentucky State University. He works for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Born in Kentucky, Miller has lived in Chicago since 1965. He has been married for 30 years and has two grown children.
Years as an inspector: 31
WHEN I FIRST STARTed this job, we were sent to training school for a week, but most of the training was on-the-job. Now the agency has an ongoing training program for employees, and I still take part in the training program. I started out as a poultry inspector in a slaughter plant and was later promoted into process inspection, which is what I still do. That means I inspect meat and poultry that is already slaughtered and is going to be turned into processed products.
There can`t really be any typical day for me because what I do and when depends in part on the plant`s schedule. Some of them start production at 2 in the morning. Some start at 4 a.m. So inspectors are starting at various hours in the day. Sometimes the day is eight hours, but sometimes it`s longer. We can work up to 12 hours at a time. There is also some administrative time programmed into the day so that we can do our reading and keep up with the constant changes that are occurring in the industry.
We get a computer-generated list of the items we have to check at each plant. We get the list a week in advance, and the tasks are printed for each plant for each day. They`re based, at least in part, on the compliance history of the plant. We also have the latitude to select other tasks in addition to the ones that are listed. If we see something that doesn`t look right, we can inspect it even if it isn`t on the list.
When I go into a plant, I start by inspecting the sanitation of the plant and facilities and the handling practices of the employees. We have what we call a pre-operational inspection that we do in the morning prior to the startup of the operation. I look to see that the equipment is clean and that the clothing of the plant workers is clean.
If I see anything that could potentially cause product contamination or adulteration, even though it might not be something that`s on the checklist, I will take action to prevent the use of the product and to restrict its movement out to the marketplace. One example of something that would cause me to take action would be dripping condensate. This could be something that`s dripping on the machinery or on the product itself. Any type of foreign material that might get on or into the product would cause me to take action. If I see any evidence of rodents, all activity stops and they have to destroy any product that`s open and might be contaminated.
I check the meat and poultry itself too. This is done by touching it, smelling it and just looking at the general appearance. I might find something that was contaminated, but that could be trimmed to remove the contaminants so the meat could still be used. I would make the judgment as to whether or not the product could be saved in this way.
We`re not just looking at or touching the product. It`s also the equipment that we inspect in this way. There could be a bacteria buildup on a piece of equipment. It might not be visible at first, until I examine each piece of equipment closely. Or there might be a residue from the previous day`s use where they improperly cleaned the equipment. I would have to restrict the use of that piece of equipment because it would be a potential source of product contamination. I could close an entire plant for the same reason.
The length of time I spend on an inspection depends on the tasks I have to perform, according to the computer-generated schedule, and any other problems that I might find. It also depends on the type of operation they have. Every plant is inspected in some way on a daily basis. Usually the inspection is completed within a day, unless there are some tasks on the list that can`t be done because the process isn`t available at that time. When we collect samples, it takes some time to get results because they have to be sent out to the laboratory.
When I first started in the inspection service in August of 1958, poultry inspection was not mandatory. It became mandatory in the following year. Some plants weren`t accustomed to operating under inspection, and some unusual things happened in those early days. There was an incident once where a worker in a plant was actually standing on some of the poultry. Now that we have mandatory inspections, that sort of thing would never happen. Now there is a very small percentage of product that ever has a problem.
There was one plant that whenever I walked into it, someone would yell,
”G.I.” I was in service and to me G.I. meant ”government issue,” so I could never understand why they were yelling this. After about the second day, it dawned on me that they meant ”government inspector” and it was a tipoff not to do anything wrong because the inspector is in the plant.
I think this is a very satisfying job. Our mission is to protect the consumer, to ensure that the consumer is getting a sound, wholesome, properly identified, properly labeled product. I think that`s rewarding.
Safe handling of products at home is very important too. We can take all types of precautions through the inspection procedures in the plants, but if the chicken or meat is mishandled at home, you can have a problem anyway. One of the major things to look out for is cross-contamination of cooked products with raw products. This can happen because of handling a cooked product after you`ve handled a raw product or using the same knives or cutting board with a cooked product after they`ve been used with a raw product.
I guess I never totally get away from my work. I examine products in the grocery store very carefully when I have time. And there have been occasions when I have cancelled an order in a restaurant because I didn`t like the appearance of conditions in the restaurant. Or maybe some of the employees used a practice that I didn`t like. My wife gets annoyed when I snoop around in her kitchen and say something about the way she`s preparing dinner. So I don`t do that very often.
