I'm not saying that the inspectors are not doing the right job; I'm just saying that the fines are in place. If you had a police officer stop you for a parking ticket or whatever, and all of a sudden they could fine you anything they want up to $5,000.... This is too broad for the type of violation that could happen, and it could put people out of business. I just don't see having these huge amounts as making our food industry safer.
Yes, I've stated that we may have to look at some of the fines that are in place, but there has to be some merit to the big numbers put on them. I use the example of the person who forgot their hairnet on a packing line. All of a sudden, a big fine comes for this farmer and well, yes, the inspector puts the fine there, and all of a sudden for a minor offence it's $5,000. I think there has to be somebody or some body to be a watchdog over how much....
And there's no appeal process, unless the government can tell me about an appeal process for somebody who gets those big fines to go to to plead their case, saying, “Look, this inspector came in, there was a change of shift, and something was forgotten.” But I don't see any appeal process here for farmers who are going to be dinged with these big fines.