The House passed a $383 billion spending package Tuesday, including an amendment that would delay a USDA proposed rule to shift more of the responsibility for hog inspections to companies. Under the amendment, which is co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. DeLauro of Connecticut and Price of Georgia, the rule would not take effect until the Office of Inspector General has reviewed it and resolved concerns with the process.
USDA’s New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS) would amend existing federal inspection regulations to introduce a voluntary inspection system. Plants that opted into the system would be subject to a reduced number of USDA inspections. USDA has said the system would allow “innovation and flexibility to establishments that are slaughtering market hogs. Market hogs are uniform, healthy, young animals that can be slaughtered and processed in this modernized system more efficiently and effectively with enhanced process control.”
But critics have condemned the voluntary system since it was announced in January 2018, saying it could make food less safe and gives more power to the pork industry to self-regulate. The USDA proposal is based on a pilot program that also allowed pork plants to raise line speeds, a move that can put more stress on line workers and raise the risk of injury.
Those critics cheered the passage of the DeLauro-Price amendment as part of the House spending bill Tuesday. “The ASPCA is grateful for the leadership of Representatives DeLauro and Price in addressing the significant and devastating consequences the USDA’s effort to remove all speed limits for pig slaughter would have on animals and workers and, ultimately, consumers’ safety,” said Suzanne McMillan, content director at ASPCA, in a statement. “The ASPCA encourages the Senate to include this language in its bill and for Congress to ensure it is included in the final FY2020 Appropriations bill.”
The Humane Society of the United States in a blog post counted the amendment among “a number of great provisions for animals” in the House spending package. “By any standard, this has been a banner year so far in our work shepherding strong animal welfare initiatives through the federal budgeting process,” wrote Kitty Block, president and CEO of HSUS, and Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, in the post.
The House spending package must yet be passed by the Senate and signed into law by the President.