Proposed poultry line speed up has worker, food safety implications
The poultry industry and Republican lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to make a change that could have profound implications for both worker safety and food safety.
The National Chicken Council (NCC) is asking USDA to allow production at plants participating in a new inspection system to use “any line speed” the plant’s operators deem safe. Such a waiver would discard the 140-birds-per-minute limit set by the Obama administration – a cap called “arbitrary” by the NCC in a petition sent to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).