Items Tagged with 'New Swine Inspection System'

Swine processing facilities operating under a trial of increased line speeds will have an additional 90 days to run at the faster limits as USDA continues to collect and submit data on the impact to workers, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a constituent update late Tuesday.

The pork industry is awaiting action by USDA ahead of Nov. 30 on whether processing plants can move to the faster line speeds that a few facilities have been allowed to use in a time-limited trial.

A federal judge upholds a USDA program for pork processing plants that gives employees more of a role in the inspection process.

A judge's ruling on pork line speed provisions was just one of many topics Vilsack discussed at a wide-ranging hearing, which also included testimony from Sen. Chuck Grassley and representatives from livestock industry groups, that brought out a number of different opinions on livestock issues like meat processing consolidation, beef market price transparency and lamb imports from the U.K.