CapitalPress.com
November 18, 2016
Audit finds Oregon
food inspection logjam
As of October, auditors found 2,841 licenses were
overdue for an inspection by more than three months
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM (AP) — Ro-
dents, insects and micro-
scopic bacteria: All these
hazards can exist in food and
where it is stored, and it is up
to the Oregon Department of
Agriculture to ensure they’re
not there.
But the department’s
Food Safety Program, which
is charged with carrying out
inspections of dairies, gro-
cery stores, food processors
and other establishments, has
a backlog that could cause an
increase in dangerous and
even fatal illnesses, Oregon’s
secretary of state said in an
audit published on Tuesday.
The Food Safety Program
is responsible for regulating
more than 12,000 food safe-
ty licenses in Oregon. The
auditors found that, as of
October, 2,841 licenses were
overdue for an inspection by
more than three months.
The 28-page report cites a
scary scenario that was dis-
covered during an inspection
in one locale.
In June 2015, two food
safety inspectors found hun-
dreds of rodent droppings
scattered throughout a gro-
cery store in Portland, the
report said.
“Seven dead mice were
still locked in snap traps ...
During a later visit, the in-
spectors found thousands
of insects on glue traps and
dead insects visible inside
wrapped packages of lettuce.
This time, the rodents spot-
ted were alive; one stuck to
a glue trap behind the bread
display, another running near
the front of the store,” said
the audit from Secretary of
State Jeanne P. Atkins office.
The inspectors closed and
condemned the store until
the problems could be re-
solved.
The audit pointed out that
not all violations are so obvi-
ous, and that health hazards
could come from an estab-
lishment failing to properly
sanitize a food preparation
area or storing food at an im-
proper temperature — which
could allow bacteria to grow
— or not labeling allergens
such as peanuts.
Each year, one in six
Americans gets sick from
contaminated foods or bev-
erages, the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
says. The CDC estimates
that of the roughly 48 million
people who get sick from a
foodborne illness each year,
128,000 are hospitalized and
3,000 die.
The backlog of inspec-
tions in Oregon was “caused
by an increase in the number
of licensed businesses ... and
an inspection staff busy with
other duties,” said the audit,
which is accessible via the
secretary of state’s website.
It recommended the agricul-
ture department use stronger
management practices, im-
prove use of data and use its
resources more strategically.
“Inspectors are also
spending significant amounts
of time on duties that are not
related to inspections, such
as attending training courses
in specialized license types
or answering customer ques-
tions on the phone,” the audit
said.
It noted that the Food
Safety Program has a con-
tract with the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration to con-
duct some of its inspections
in exchange for reimburse-
ment. It recommended doing
fewer FDA contract inspec-
tions.
Lisa Hanson, acting di-
rector of the state agricul-
ture department, wrote in a
response that the department
will implement the report’s
recommendations.
The audit stressed that
adhering to food safety regu-
lations is crucial to minimize
the risk of contamination,
and that it’s up to food safety
inspectors to make sure those
regulations are followed.
Farmers offer comments on
Columbia-Snake River System
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Some wrote
by hand. Others wrote on a
computer. Some had friends
write it down word-for-word.
Still others will send an
email or a letter outlining
their thoughts on the Colum-
bia-Snake River System.
The public has many op-
tions to tell the federal gov-
ernment about the river sys-
tem, and all of them were on
display in Spokane during
one of 15 scoping meetings
to help the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and Bonneville
Power Administration collect
comments for an environmen-
tal impact statement on the
dams on the rivers.
“We’re asking the public
to come in and look at what
we’ve outlined, which is how
we currently operate,” said
Rebecca Weiss, program co-
ordinator for the corps. “Is
there something else that
we’re missing in the system
that’s important to you that
you want us to look at?”
The meeting drew farmers
and ranchers, as well as crit-
ics of the river system and its
dams.
The dams are on track to
achieve 96 percent average
dam survival for young spring
chinook and steelhead and
93 percent for young sum-
mer-migrating fish, according
to the BPA.
The river system has the
most fish since Bonneville
Dam was built in the 1930s,
according to the Pacific
Northwest Waterways Asso-
ciation. In 2014, more than
2.5 million adult salmon and
steelhead passed the dam, set-
ting new overall record levels
since counts began in 1938.
The sockeye, fall chinook and
coho posted record or near-re-
cord runs, including Snake
River stocks. The dams on the
Snake River do not block ac-
cess for fish.
Paul Gross, a farmer with
the Spokane Hutterians in
Reardan, Wash., wanted to
know more about water con-
trol for three pump sites on
the Spokane River.
“Any time they change the
elevation, it affects us,” Gross
said. “The price of wheat is
half of what it was two years
ago. We’re already below the
cost of production, so any
time you make it harder for
me, I’m just going to go broke
faster.”
It’s important for farm-
ers and ranchers to contrib-
ute comments, said Colfax,
Wash., rancher Tom Kammer-
zell, a commissioner for the
Whitman County port district.
“This is up close and in-
timate to everybody in this
region, and affects us more
than anybody,” Kammerzell
said. “You can make a deci-
sion, but you can’t make it
without all the facts, not the
cherry-picked facts.”
Deadline to comment is
Jan. 17. Two webinars will be
offered at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Pacific Time Dec. 13 on the
project website, http://www.
crso.info/.
Following are the remain-
ing meetings:
• Nov 21: Holiday Inn Ex-
press & Suites, Pasco-Tri Cit-
ies, 4525 Convention Place,
Pasco, Wash. 4-7 p.m.
• Nov. 29: The Grove Ho-
tel, 245 S. Capitol Blvd., Boi-
se, Idaho. 4-7 p.m.
• Dec. 1: Town Hall Great
Room, 1119 8th Ave., Seattle,
Wash. 4-7 p.m.
• Dec. 6: The Columbia
Gorge Discovery Center,
River Gallery Room, 5000
Discovery Drive, The Dalles,
Ore. 4-7 p.m.
• Dec. 7: Oregon Conven-
tion Center, 777 NE Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd., Port-
land. 4-7 p.m.
• Dec. 8: The Loft at the
Red Building, 20 Basin St.,
Astoria, Ore. 4-7 p.m.
‘Frivolous’ lawsuit costs Oregon
rancher $13,700, judge rules
Congratulations Sharon & Brenda!
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Sharon Livingston
2016
Agriculturist of the year
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Hal Thomas with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers speaks with
farmer Mike LaShaw of Rock-
ford, Wash., about navigation
on the Columbia River during
the Nov. 14 scoping meeting in
Spokane.
An Oregon livestock pro-
ducer must pay $13,700 to the
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture for filing a “frivolous”
lawsuit against the agency, a
federal judge has ruled.
U.S. Magistrate Judge
John Acosta found that ODA
is entitled to collect attorney
fees from William Holdner, a
rancher in Columbia County
who filed a complaint claim-
ing he’s not subject to state
water quality regulations.
Before his problems with
water quality regulations be-
gan, Holdner raised about 500
cow-calf pairs on his property.
Holdner was repeatedly
cited by ODA for pollution
violations on his property. He
was found guilty of felony
Brenda Frketich
2016
Ag Connection Award
water pollu-
tion charges in
2012 and sen-
tenced to five
days in jail
and $300,000
in penalties.
In
re-
William
sponse,
he
Holdner
claimed to be
exempt from state and feder-
al water regulations, arguing
that ODA had abused its pow-
er in regulating his operation
under the Clean Water Act.
In 2009, 2012 and 2015,
Holdner filed lawsuits arguing
that his “land patent” prohib-
ited the enforcement of water
regulations on his property,
but those claims were all re-
jected by federal judges.
In light of the past rul-
ings, Holdner’s claims in the
most recent case “could not
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Sat., Dec. 3rd • 10 A.M.
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• Unit 98 - Mark Schuler
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be considered viable at the
time they were filed,” since
he “had clearly been warned
any additional complaints at-
tacking the legality of defen-
dants’ regulation of Holdner’s
livestock operation would not
succeed,” Acosta said.
Because the complaint was
“frivolous, unreasonable or
without foundation,” ODA’s
attorneys are entitled to recov-
er their fees, the judge said.
However, Acosta did not
grant the full $23,800 the
state’s lawyers sought in
court filings and reduced the
amount by more than $10,000
because some of the hours
billed by the state were dupli-
cative, among other reasons.
In 2014, Holdner was pro-
hibited from owning cattle af-
ter being convicted of animal
neglect, which resulted in a
sentence of five years of pro-
bation.
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2680 Cherry Ave. NE
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