Vol. 17 No. 37
The Meat Inspection Takeover
State Charges Chicanery
Eric L. Fairchild is a chief without a tribe. As
head of Pennsylvania’s meat inspection
program, he had the misfortune of watching
helplessly while the federal government
smashed his department to nothing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the
move was prompted by a concern for the quality
of meat in the state of Pennsylvania. Fairchild
claims the USDA’s motives were purely
political. He says further that Pennsylvania’s
meat inspection standards were at least equal to
federal standards and probably better. And he
feels that Pennsylvania’s program was at least
as good, if not better, than the programs in
surrounding states.
Fairchild explained his feelings in an in
terview this week with Lancaster Farming.
“I have been in this job since late November of
last year. I’m a layman, not a veterinarian or a
doctor. I was picked because of my ad
ministrative ability. Before this, I was an ad
ministrative officer with the Bureau of Animal
Industries.
“Now, when I came to this job, I saw that the
Winning prizes in this week’s annual FFA Hog show
were, left to right: Russell Kline, Reinholds, senior
fitter: Nelson Messner, East Earl, junior fitter; Gerald
Musser, Ephrata, senior showman, and Kerry Boyd,
Ephrata, junior showman.
Slave Auction Nets *565
“Sold for $6.25! ” the auctioneer
said, closing his fist and banging
m on the podium Robert Hess,
17-year-old son of J. Robert Hess,
Strasburg, had just sold himself
into slavery, but only for a day
And he wasn’t alone. There
were 25 other young people who
sold themselves into voluntary
servitude last Friday night, for
the benefit of the Farm and Home
Center. The $6.25-per-hour paid
for Hess was the highest sale of
the evening.
Auctioneer Everett Kreider
shook his head as Hess stepped
down from the auction block. At
In The Issue
Classified Ads 33,34,35
Editorial Page 10
Market Section 2,3,4
Women Pages 22,23,24,25
,F{rcnn£pfcn.d?r,
$6.25 an hour, a young fellow
could make a good day’s wages
But Kreider wasn’t shaking his
head at the amount. After all, last
year’s high was over $B.OO an
hour - and that for a girl. Young
Hess, it turned out, had been sold
to another slave - Darryl
Bollinger.
Bollinger, 16, is the son of Elam
Bollinger, Manheim Rl. “What
are you going to do with your
slave?” the auctioneer asked the
bidder
“He’s going to bale hay,”
Bollinger replied.
Bollinger’s services were sold
to Muncie Chief Hybrid Seed Co.,
Muncie, Pa. for a mere $3.40 per
hour. Muncie Chief was the
biggest buyer of the evening,
snapping up the services of 11
young volunteers.
Muncie Chief and 11 other
* ' t » # m t,) t r ♦ i.f t ♦ * -* t f f ♦ »
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 5, 1972
program was in trouble. There was definitely
problems. I saw my mission as one of trying to
accomplish a job with whatever tools were
available.
“I’m convinced that we were on the right
track. I know we came a long way in a short
time. But the more I got into it, the more I
realized that this was a lot more political than I
had first imagined.
“The whole thing goes back a few years, to
when Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act
m 1967. Guidelines were established in the act for
the inspection of meat Sates were allowed to set
up their own programs for intrastate meat
operations, provided the state programs were
equal to federal meat inspection. If the states
followed the guidelines, then the federal
government would pay 50 percent of the cost of
state meat inspection.
“In December of 1970, nearly every state meat
inspection program was certified as being equal
to the federal government’s programs. One
month later, in January of 1971, the USDA begain
attacking Pennsylvania meat inspection. Just
Champion FFA H&g
Goes for *1.12 lb.
The grand champion hog at this
year’s 10th annual Lancaster
County FFA Market Hog Show
and Sale was sold for $ll2 a
pound this past Tuesday Marlin
Smoker, Stevens Rl, and Richard
Bollinger, Lititz R 4, were co
owners of the hog
Penn Packing, Philadelphia,
was the successful bidder, paying
$229 60 for the 205 -pound
crossbreed. The champion was
the first of over 200 show
hogs to be auctioned off m the
small sale arena at the Lancaster
Stock Yards
The reserve grand champion
ot the show was a 220-pound
Hampshire shown by Joseph
bidders altogether agreed to pay
$565 to the Farm and Home
Center for the services of the
volunteers Bids for an hour’s
labor ranged from $1 50 to $6 25,
and averaged about $2 75.
Mike Peifer commanded the
second-highest rate of $5.10 per
hour. Mervm Peifer, Manheim
Rl, was the bidder who captured
Mike Mervin is Mike’s father
This year’s highest rate for a
girl was $2.10, and three girls got
it -- Nancy and Cathy Henkel and
Suzanne Irwin.
Successful bidders will pay for
their volunteers’ services by
sending a check to the Farm and
Home Center. As in other years,
the money will be used to reduce
the Center’s mortgage.
All bids were for an eight-hour
day, with the work to be done
sometime in August.
*Pf 99*9994****^
one month after those same people at USDA had
certified our program as being equal-to.
“I’d like to know how they could say our
program was perfect one month, and grossly
deficient the next. I’ve asked this question on a
number of people, and I can never get an answer.
But I think I know.
“In 1970, one veterinarian certified the entire
state. He did it by inspecting 50 processing and
slaughter plants and 20 custom exempt plants.
These plants were supposed to be selected on a
random basis But the names of the plants were
leaked to state officials
“The Republicans who were in office at the
time made sure that those plants were in perfect
shape for the inspection. If they couldn’t shape
them up, they closed them down.
“So then the Democrats came into office, and
the USDA started attacking The alleged
deficiencies revolved around personnel. They
said we didn’t have enough people, and the
people we did have didn’t have enough training.
“In March of 1971, the chief of inspection and
Lefever, Manheim R 4, an FFA
student at Manheim Central High
School
Lefever’s hog sold to Garden
Spot Meats at Bridgeport for 60
cents a pound, paying his owner
$132
Lefever also showed the
reserve champion Hampshire
which sold to Garden Spot for
SlVa cents a pound Showing still
another hog, Lefever took the
reserve breeder-exhibitor award
This hog sold to Kunzler Meats of
Lancaster for 31*/ 2 cents a pound
Roger Leaman, of the Pequea
Valley FFA chapter, was named
the champion breeder-exhibitor
of the show His 225-pound hog
Darryl Bollinger, left, gave a muscle power demon
stration last Friday night at the Farm and Home Center
Volunteer Slave Auction. He convinced a buyer from
Muncie Chief Hybrid Seed Co. that he was worth 53.40
an hour. Everett Kreider was auctioneer for the sale.
'i9r9t,r)t
(Continued on Page 27)
sold to Kunzler for 31 cents a
pound
The champion pen of 10 hogs
was shown by Barry Wissler, an
Ephrarta High School FFA
member. Wissler’s hogs
averaged 222 pounds each and
were sold to Penn Packing for
31 Vi cents a pound
One hog in Wissler’s prize
winning pen was also the
Yorkshire breed champion and
sold individually to Garden Spot
Meats for 32 cents a pound
The open class breed cham
pionship went to a hog shown by
Dwight Martin of Manheim
Central High School FFA, with
(Continued On Page 27)
$2.00 Per Year