USDA's decision to walk away from its obligation to protect the public is shameful and will almost certainly result in more people getting sick and dying.
Image from Graham Horn, CreativeCommons
"Self-regulation when it comes to animal movement, slaughter, and meat inspection is bad news."
Food safety advocates warned Monday that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's newly implemented rules for pig slaughter are setting the
stage for a potential public health disaster—including the possibility of
another infectious disease that could come from animals.
At issue is the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS), which the USDA finalized
in October. Touted by the federal agency as a "modernization" effort, the
regulation sparked immediate fears and lawsuits by watchdog groups over its
elimination of kill speed limits and weakening of the inspection system.
As NBC News previously reported:
The new rule will let factory workers, rather than USDA inspectors, remove unsuitable carcasses and trim defects in plants that opt into the new inspection system. USDA inspectors will still examine the carcasses, but they will be stationed farther down the line.
The USDA claims the new system will still "ensure food safety," but its
critics have new evidence to say otherwise.
A new analysis from Food & Water Watch released Monday and included in a
lawsuit against the USDA says that in plants where the new system has been
implemented, "federal government veterinarians were precluded and prevented
from adequately inspecting animals and carcasses that had signs of diseases,
recent treatment, and other abnormal food-safety and public health-related
conditions that would render an animal or its meat not fit for human
consumption."
"Self-regulation when it comes to animal movement, slaughter, and meat
inspection is bad news. This data shows just how bad it really is," said
Zach Corrigan, senior staff attorney with Food & Water Watch.
The U.S, being the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak that has
claimed tens of thousands of lives worldwide only serves to underscore the
need to move away from the new regulation, Corrigan said.
"While people across the country are fighting against a dangerous pandemic
believed to have come first from animals, USDA is eliminating necessary
safeguards against the spread of infectious diseases from swine," added
Corrigan. "USDA is endangering public health. They should shut down NSIS
immediately."
Food & Water Watch is joined in its newly amended lawsuit calling for the
new regulation to be blocked by the Center for Food Safety, which sounded
alarm Monday about the new rule.
"If this moment teaches us anything, it is that deregulating public health
standards can have disastrous consequences. The reason we have federal
regulation of meat is because the industry failed to protect public health a
century ago," said Ryan Talbott, staff attorney at the Center for Food
Safety.
"USDA's decision to walk away from its obligation to protect the public is
shameful," added Talbott, "and will almost certainly result in more people
getting sick and dying."
Number of animals killed in the world by the fishing, meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage.
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