Update — (September 17, 2019) Today, after years of overwhelming public push back by Farm Forward and a diverse coalition of more than 35 consumer, labor, environmental, public health, animal protection and civil rights organizations, the USDA’s FSIS published its final hog slaughter inspection rule that will revoke maximum slaughter line speeds, while also transferring key inspection duties to the plants themselves, presenting a number of food safety, animal welfare, and worker safety concerns. This egregious form of deregulation, done in the name of modernization and innovation, reflects a food system that places profit over people, animals, and the planet.
Update — (April, 2019) This month just weeks after Pat Basu, the chief veterinarian with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service from 2016 to 2018, refused to sign off on a new pork inspection system because of concerns about safety for consumers, workers, and livestock, Trump’s USDA made plans to shift much of the power and responsibility for food safety inspections in hog plants to the pork industry. Under the proposed new inspection system there would be NO LIMITS ON SLAUGHTER LINE-SPEEDS.
Update — (May 2, 2018) the USDA closed it’s public comment period on the “Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection” rule. Thanks to you, Farm Forward submitted over 3,000 comments in opposition to this rule that if passed, would roll back progress for animals, workers, and consumers. We’ll continue to update progress on this rule here so check back often.
Thanks for joining us in our fight to end factory farming. We can’t do it without you.
Farm Forward is proud to join a diverse coalition of more than 35 consumer, labor, environmental, public health, animal protection and civil rights organizations opposing USDA’s expansion of a high-speed hog slaughter program. We need your help—sign the petition below!
If passed, the “Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection” rule will revoke maximum slaughter line speeds, while also transferring key inspection duties to the plants themselves, presenting a number of food safety, animal welfare, and worker safety concerns.
Even USDA inspectors who’ve observed the faster speeds first-hand have spoken out against them. According to an inspector who participated in the pilot program:
“On numerous occasions, I witnessed plant employees fail to spot abscesses, lesions, fecal matter, and other defects that would render an animal unsafe or unwholesome.” The inspector further explained that without incentive, these plant workers “don’t actually want to shut off the line to deal with problems they spot on the job. Obviously, their employer will terminate them if they do it too many times.”
The USDA is accepting public comments on the rule until May 4,2018. Sign our petition below to let them know that as a concerned American citizen you oppose the “Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection” rule because it rolls back progress for animals, workers, and consumers.
We’ll submit the signatures we collect directly to the USDA prior to the close of public comments on May 4, 2018.
Click Here To Help Us Stop The USDA
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