Each of the cattle slaughtered at Larry Swerczek's locker in Albion, Neb. — between 50 and 90 a month — must be examined by a federal inspector as it comes into the locker and then as it's killed, butchered and packed for three small grocery stores in Boone and Antelope Counties.
So Swerczek worries about how he'll get enough meat to his customers and keep his nine employees working if that inspector, one of about 8,600 around the country, is temporarily taken off the job this summer as part of the across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration.
Consumer safety is not at risk, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says, but people in Nebraska's beef industry worry about other problems if plants and meat import stations are shut down because inspectors can't come to work and supervise operations as required by law.
Effects could include meat shortages and higher prices for consumers and the loss of hours for thousands of slaughterhouse workers. Ranchers and feedlot operators could see reduced sales, and the furloughs would disrupt the finely tuned supply system that delivers live animals at the right weight to the right place at the right time.
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