The efforts of those who are continuing to inspect without pay are weaker due to not receiving profit. With over 80% of the nation's food supply under FDA’s reach, the state of health in regard to food is set to quickly decline. With the end of the shutdown nowhere in sight, who knows how many people continue receiving bacteria filled food products? Food that is not inspected thoroughly will still be on shelves even after the shutdown stops, which means this epidemic might have no real end.
How much longer do you think the government will be shut down for? Are food inspections necessary? How will the after effects of the lack of inspection affect U.S. citizens?
Even though a little diarrhea never hurt anyone, I think that the FDA should be inspecting all of the food that they normally would. Food inspections are an absolute must. It is unfortunate for the workers and their families that are not getting paid.
ReplyDeleteWith the State of the Union coming up, I hope that this shutdown will end soon. If not for the hundreds of thousands of workers going without pay, then for the basic health needs of our country. This lack of inspection could very well have outreaching effects on the entire country, causing more than just a missed paycheck, but possibly sending people to the hospital.
ReplyDeleteI think the government will be shut down until next week when the new bill. Food inspections are very necessary. They protect the public from diseases or other contaminates. I think many will become sick without food inspections. I also think when the government opens back up there will be a lot of recalls on food items.
ReplyDeletePreviously, I had the idea in my mind that the government shutdown was probably not all that much of a problem for the country, even though I doubted that things were remotely that simple even then. As such, I completely forgot about administrations such as the FDA. After all, it only makes sense that it would be easy for a libertarian to take the government for granted.
ReplyDeleteContrary to my intuition, this actually sounds like it could potentially be very dangerous. However, the article points out that companies can (and, to my knowledge, typically do) perform their own inspections, but in the event that they don't, problems could arise. For now, it will be up to the companies to inspect their own foods, and I think that there may be many reasons they would have to do that anyway. Of course, that doesn't mean that the government will be able to stop them from being irresponsible, though. I suppose time will tell if this situation becomes as horrible as it sounds like it could, or if the companies will keep in line and try to prevent food-related outbreaks from happening.