I'm surprised by the statement that the meat packing plants are inspected daily by the FDA. If I remember well in "fast food nation" inspections of the slaughterhouses are more like once a year, and only after asking for permission...
I would imagine that there is probably some regulation imposing daily controls.
Can you confirm?
In Europe the approach is quite different in food-chain: the emphasis on maintaining sanitary conditions all along the food preparation chain. For instance, there is widespread revulsion at the idea that the chickens are chlorinated - which is a cause for trade negotiations, with the Europeans accused of being protectionist.
I had no idea that vegetables were chlorinated too.

That line made laugh too, the FDA and other agencies cannot even make them pull contaminated meat from the market.

USDA, not FDA; the FDA is the one the article said is NOT doing regular inspections

And Fast Food Nation was written almost a decade ago, so while many things in that book are still true, things like inspection statistics may be outdated.

The Department of Agriculture is still a notoriously weak agency. That statistic jumped out at me too, I wish a source was provided for it. I'd also like to know what passes for an "inspection," whether they are daily or not.