Turkey plants can increase line speeds as criticism of poultry rule continues
August 01, 2014 | 05:04 PM
Turkey plants will be allowed to increase slightly the speeds at which those birds can whiz by inspectors under a little-noticed provision in the rule the Agriculture Department finalized on Thursday to modernize the poultry inspection system that was first put in place in 1957.
Turkey plants that choose to participate in the new inspection system can increase the line speed to 55 birds from the current 52 birds, according to page 25 of the bill.
An Agriculture Department Food Safety Inspection Service spokeswoman noted that the increase would be slight compared with the proposal to increase in the line speed for young chickens from 140 to 175 birds per minute. That proposal was dropped after Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with National Council of La Raza officials.
The cap on line speeds the USDA announced Thursday is a testament to the power of workers’ voices in Washington, said Catherine Singley Harvey, the manager of the economic policy project for La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group, told the McClatchy News Service.
“The fact that the administration prevented a bad situation from becoming worse was a result of collective advocacy, so we’re pleased to see that USDA and the Department of Labor recognized the human costs of chicken production, and we look forward to working with both agencies in continuing to improve worker safety,” Singley Harvey said.
“We’re pleased to see the scuttling of a plan to increase line speeds at poultry slaughter plants,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States.
“The current system is unworkable and line speeds are already unacceptably fast and inhumane, and speeding up the lines would have created even more animal welfare and worker safety problems,” Pacelle said.
“It is unfortunate, however, that other elements of the USDA rule have been made final, including the removal of hundreds of inspectors from poultry slaughter facilities,” he added. “This self-regulation plan is unwarranted given the industry’s long track record of food safety and animal welfare problems.”
Meanwhile, consumer groups and key Democrats in the House reacted negatively to the rule.
Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America said the final rule “does little to address multiple food safety concerns raised by consumer groups.”
Waldrop noted that the rule turns over some inspection duties to the companies, but does not require companies train the employees for new duties.
Although Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that the rule requires plants to test for salmonella or campylobacter, the two pathogens most frequently associated with raw poultry, Waldrop maintained that the fine print in the rule does not require testing in all plants, as CFA had proposed.
“USDA also refused to set basic standards for the level of bruises, feathers, bile or ingesta on birds going down the processing line, instead letting each company set its own standard,” Waldrop said. “This leaves such decisions up to each plant, which has a vested economic interest in processing as many birds as possible.”
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., expressed disappointment with the rule in a joint statement.
“We urged FSIS to withdraw the proposed rule until the agency thoroughly engaged with all impacted stakeholders and addressed its impact on the public, workers and animals, and adherence to good commercial practices. That was not done,” they said.
“And while we greatly support modernizing our food safety system and making it more efficient, modernization should not occur at the expense of public health, worker safety, or animal welfare.”
Turkey plants that choose to participate in the new inspection system can increase the line speed to 55 birds from the current 52 birds, according to page 25 of the bill.
An Agriculture Department Food Safety Inspection Service spokeswoman noted that the increase would be slight compared with the proposal to increase in the line speed for young chickens from 140 to 175 birds per minute. That proposal was dropped after Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with National Council of La Raza officials.
The cap on line speeds the USDA announced Thursday is a testament to the power of workers’ voices in Washington, said Catherine Singley Harvey, the manager of the economic policy project for La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group, told the McClatchy News Service.
“The fact that the administration prevented a bad situation from becoming worse was a result of collective advocacy, so we’re pleased to see that USDA and the Department of Labor recognized the human costs of chicken production, and we look forward to working with both agencies in continuing to improve worker safety,” Singley Harvey said.
“We’re pleased to see the scuttling of a plan to increase line speeds at poultry slaughter plants,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States.
“The current system is unworkable and line speeds are already unacceptably fast and inhumane, and speeding up the lines would have created even more animal welfare and worker safety problems,” Pacelle said.
“It is unfortunate, however, that other elements of the USDA rule have been made final, including the removal of hundreds of inspectors from poultry slaughter facilities,” he added. “This self-regulation plan is unwarranted given the industry’s long track record of food safety and animal welfare problems.”
Meanwhile, consumer groups and key Democrats in the House reacted negatively to the rule.
Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America said the final rule “does little to address multiple food safety concerns raised by consumer groups.”
Waldrop noted that the rule turns over some inspection duties to the companies, but does not require companies train the employees for new duties.
Although Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that the rule requires plants to test for salmonella or campylobacter, the two pathogens most frequently associated with raw poultry, Waldrop maintained that the fine print in the rule does not require testing in all plants, as CFA had proposed.
“USDA also refused to set basic standards for the level of bruises, feathers, bile or ingesta on birds going down the processing line, instead letting each company set its own standard,” Waldrop said. “This leaves such decisions up to each plant, which has a vested economic interest in processing as many birds as possible.”
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., expressed disappointment with the rule in a joint statement.
“We urged FSIS to withdraw the proposed rule until the agency thoroughly engaged with all impacted stakeholders and addressed its impact on the public, workers and animals, and adherence to good commercial practices. That was not done,” they said.
“And while we greatly support modernizing our food safety system and making it more efficient, modernization should not occur at the expense of public health, worker safety, or animal welfare.”
