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Food inspections and some price reporting still ongoing during shutdown

The National Pork Producers Council says commerce has been mostly uninterrupted in the pork industry during the government shutdown.

“U.S. packing plants employ about 500,000 workers and without FSIS being deemed essential, those employees and facilities would have been idled which would have caused significant disruptions throughout the meat supply chain.”    

Dustin Baker tells Brownfield U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue last January deemed the Food Safety and Inspection Service as well as mandatory price reporting by the Ag Market News Service essential during shutdowns.

“The longer this goes on, the more other reports we’re lacking from USDA, the more problematic it gets, but for the most part, commerce continues to be conducted.”        

He says the shutdown itself doesn’t seem to be causing any major volatility in the pork market, yet.

AUDIO: Brownfield interview with Dustin Baker