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Victory for workers, consumers, animal welfare as USDA swine slaughter rule to come under investigation
The House Appropriations Committee voted today to halt the implementation of the USDA’s swine slaughter inspection rulemaking until a full Office of the Inspector General investigation is completed. Under the proposed USDA rulemaking, there would be no limits on slaughter-line speeds, which have proven dangerous for workers, and 40 percent of swine slaughter food safety inspectors would be shifted from federal inspectors to plant employees.
Deborah Berkowitz, Worker Health & Safety Program Director at NELP, released the following statement in response:
"This is a real victory for good government, consumers, animal welfare and for tens of thousands of hog slaughter workers whose safety is endangered by this rule.
"Congress has confirmed there are serious concerns about USDA's data, analysis and process for developing this rule. The agency hid analysis from the public, issued the key risk assessment without a required peer review, and violated rulemaking transparency requirements so they could ram it through quickly.
"Faster line speeds under this rule will hurt workers and endanger consumers and animal welfare. It's critical for the IG to review whether the USDA followed procedures. If not, they must revisit the rule.
"A coalition of worker safety, labor, consumer health and animal welfare organizations calls on the Senate now to sustain this amendment."
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