A federal judge recently rejected a rule that let pork processing plants speed up production because the USDA didn’t properly think about worker safety. The judge explained that the Food Safety and Inspection Service didn’t follow the proper procedures needed in order to speed up the processing lines.
The judge pointed out that the USDA said they were concerned about the wellbeing of employees, but didn’t take action to prove that to be true. The department asked for public comment on speeding up processing lines and many comments were showing concern for the safety of employees.
After public comments, the Food Safety and Inspection service allegedly rejected the concerns and took away line speed limits anyways. The judge said that her ruling isn’t going to be put into effect for 90 days so that those in charge can determine how this will impact their lines if they’ve already sped them up.
