They do more than that. They may not inspect all meat, but they do survey the meat packing plants. The odds that most meat I eat was packed at a plant that has been inspected by the USDA and conforms to standards is very high.
The also, in conjunction with the CDC, track food born illnesses back to the source. A feat that would be nearly impossible without these agencies and their regulations.
The U.S. has the 3rd safest food supply of all countries behind France and Israel and frankly people have wondered how we were possibly chosen 3rd behind those two.
“The odds that most meat I eat was packed at a plant that has been inspected by the USDA”
That is actually very low.
“The odds that most meat I eat was packed at a plant that conforms to standards is very high.”
True, but not so much because of some threat of “getting caught by some FDA inspector,” instead it is more a matter of the meat producer not wanting to harm their customers.
The market is much more robust at self government than beaurocratic drones, yet you put your faith in government. The current face of big government should be enlightening to you, but I fear it is not.