MINNEAPOLIS – Several labor unions filed a
federal lawsuit in Minneapolis this week over controversial U.S. Department of Agriculture rule changes for regulating pork processing plants.
The plaintiffs say a key concern is a provision that removes maximum line speeds when bringing hogs to slaughter. They say allowing faster line speeds compromises worker safety as well as food safety.
"You could imagine if the carcasses are coming by more quickly," she said, "we might not detect the same things that we would detect if it was going a little bit slower."
The USDA has said the changes are intended to modernize the pork-processing system. They also include reducing the number of federal meat inspectors on processing lines by 40%. The complaint alleges that a combination of faster line speeds and fewer inspectors is asking for trouble, and aims to block the changes.
The trouble isn't only on the processing lines. VanderWaal said another example of how the changes could compromise food safety is through transportation. Even if a truck that arrives at a processing plant is perfectly clean, she said, all it takes is one tainted batch of product leaving the facility to create problems.
"Sometimes, they leave the slaughter plants with detectable virus on the surface of those trucks," she said, "and those trucks can go back to pick up more pigs within a farm, and that can be a potential way for farm spread of viruses."
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