Pork Industry to Begin Policing Its Own Food Safety System
According to an LA Times article published online this week, President Donald Trump’s administration plans to give more authority to the pork industry, allowing them to conduct their own food safety inspections as early as May 2019. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) did not make their data public, but the National Employment Law Project obtained it through a public information request. The article says that this will cut the number of federal inspectors by about 40 percent, replacing them with pork industry employees.
If the new inspection system goes into effect, pork plant workers—who’s training will be up to their employer—will be tasked with identifying diseased and contaminated pork. Under the new system, no slaughter line speed limits would be required. Currently, line speeds are capped at 1,106 hogs per hour, or 18 hogs per minute.