>> In my experience, government inspection services tend to become 
corrupt and deliberately incompetent unless carefully overseen by 
persons of unquestioned integrity and staffed by honest and fearless 
inspectors.

 > Amen to that. From first hand experience, I can testify to that. By 
the way, Diogenes is still out there somewhere, looking for that honest man

Any organization charged with oversight of a large industry has a 
difficult task.  We have some examples of competent and effective 
inspection, and we have examples of where a lot of money is spent and 
people appear to be busy and engaged, but the results show us that it 
was a sham.

Our Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is once again a case in 
point.  Recent events caught them with their pants down -- again. To 
some of us this was no surprise and we figure it is bound to happen 
repeatedly until heads roll.  A lot of heads IMO.

The giant international recall of beef from the Brooks Alberta plant is 
a direct result -- IMO -- of an inept CFIA management and lack of 
direction in CFIA.  Given the scope of the problems, it is truly hard to 
believe that there was _any _competent and vigilant oversight at all at 
that plant.  We've had two such episodes in Canada in recent memory.

Many can and will blame this on government cuts, but when any 
bureaucracy is faced with cuts, the response is to cut back on the front 
line where the real work is done and defend the hierarchy and the upper 
echelons from any effects.  I'm guessing that is what happened here.  
Was this deliberate?  I hope not, and I hope the repercussions go right 
to the top.

I mention CFIA here on BEE-L because CFIA have oversight over our 
Canadian honey industry and IMO, have little understanding of it.

I've had contact with the CFIA at various levels over the years, in 
various functions from industry rep to producer, and although there may 
be many competent and motivated individuals in the agency, they are 
hamstrung by management and demoralized by lack of direction and the 
very nature of the job.

When we invited CFIA personnel to speak at our meetings and consult with 
us in open session, they simply stood up at the mic and went into a 
monologue about the structure of the organization or complained about 
rust on barrels.  That neatly ran out the clock and allowed them to 
escape as a bewildered audience sat wondering what happened.   They want 
to keep their jobs.  Don't rock the boat is the prime directive at CFIA, 
as far as I can tell.

Inspection, by its very nature is certain to have failures and attempts 
at bribery and political interference.  The push-pull between the desire 
to do a good and relevant inspection and the desire to keep one's job 
can lead to cynicism and token effort if employees are not supported in 
performing their jobs, and are not encouraged to provide intelligent 
feedback back up through the organization.

Sunlight is a great disinfectant and the only way that inspection 
schemes can be expected to be honest is where everything is open, above 
board, and realistic.  All parties must be involved, enthused and see 
the reason behind the procedures and the benefits, plus be protected 
from capricious enforcement and protected from unnecessarily onerous 
burdens.

Without co-operation, open and honest consultation and commitment by all 
parties, money is wasted, the public is endangered and career employees 
are hampered from performing their tasks properly.

I could write a lot more about this, but I am out of time and hope 
others will (dare) offer their insights.

I'm out of the line of fire (I think) and can speak freely, but many are 
in fear of retribution should they dare speak up.

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