By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) posted its final rule establishing an optional new inspection system for pork processors, which USDA and the pork industry say will modernize swine slaughter inspection by bringing it into the 21st century.

According to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, the new regulations will eliminate outdated rules and make way for modern food inspection innovations, while continuing to protect public health and safety.

“The final rule is the culmination of a science-based and data-driven rulemaking process, which builds on the food safety improvements made in 1997, when USDA introduced a system of preventive controls for industry. With this rule, FSIS will finally begin full implementation of that program in swine establishments,” Perdue said Sept. 17.

FSIS said the New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS) makes better use of inspectors’ resources and enables industry innovation by allowing companies to establish their own independent maximum line speeds and permitting processors to reconfigure evisceration lines.

Pork processing companies may choose not to operate under FSIS standards, but all companies must develop sampling plans tailored to their own operations.

FSIS claims the new system will likely result in fewer cases of salmonella on market hog carcasses, resulting in fewer human foodborne illnesses. Critics of the final USDA rule, including worker health and safety advocacy group Public Citizen, are questioning the veracity of that claim.

“For more than a decade, USDA whistleblowers have warned that workers cannot identify fecal matter and diseases on hogs under faster line speeds. Eliminating line speed maximums puts consumers at further risk,” said Shanna Devine of the Washington, D.C.-based organization.

Also under the NSIS, FSIS will shift agency resources to allow up to two offline verification inspectors per shift, while reducing the number of online inspectors to a maximum of three per line per shift.

Another change involves requiring plant personnel to sort and remove unfit animals before antemortem inspection by FSIS inspectors, and to trim and identify defects on carcasses before postmortem inspection. FSIS will continue, however, to conduct 100 percent inspection of animals before slaughter and 100 percent carcass-by-carcass inspection, as mandated by Congress.

FSIS inspectors will retain the authority to stop or slow a production line as necessary to ensure food safety and inspection standards are adhered to under the final rule, which has gained the approval and support of the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), and other animal agriculture groups.

“The NSIS will allow plants who choose to participate an opportunity for food safety innovation, a benefit to consumers and our industry at large,” said NAMI President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “Under both the new and existing systems, our members’ highest priorities are to provide safe products to the public and ensure the workforce on which they depend is also safe.”

NPPC President David Herring praised USDA for introducing an inspection system that incentivizes investment in new technologies. “The U.S. pork production system is the envy of the world because we continuously adopt new practices and technologies, while enhancing safety, quality, and consistency. The new inspection system codifies the advancements we have made into law, reflecting a 21st century industry.”

FSIS and industry assurances are not mollifying food safety advocates such as Wenonah Hauter, Food and Water Watch executive director. Her Washington-based group says there is no doubt faster line speeds and less inspection equals more food contamination.

“We already know from the privatization of poultry plant inspection that relinquishing control over food safety to industry is bad for public health,” she said. “Trump’s USDA is clearly prioritizing the meat industry’s interests against the will of the American people, and in doing so, is wreaking havoc on public health.”

Devine called the new inspection system both anti-consumer and anti-worker. “Swine processing workers, many of whom are (people) of color or are immigrants, already face some of the highest workplace injury rates in the country. USDA’s action will put them at even greater risk of repetitive stress injuries, lacerations and amputations,” said Devine.

USDA pointed out the new inspection system is the result of years of controlled study ushered in, as Perdue stated, in the 1990s with revised Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans for pork processors. Guided by the new HACCP principles, the NSIS launched a study of slaughter inspections in 20 young chicken, five young turkey, and five market hog establishments on a waiver basis.

Pointing to results of that more than two-decade pilot project, Perdue, the FSIS, and pork industry advocates are united in their belief that the new rules will, despite critics’ claims, increase food and consumer safety while maintaining workplace safety.

“The U.S. industry has long been a global leader in offering the highest-quality, safest, and most affordable pork to consumers here at home and abroad,” said Herring. “We are proud of our record and welcome this program to further modernize our production process.”

The National Assoc. of Federal Veterinarians also stands in support of the NSIS. “The NSIS is a major step forward in improving the slaughter inspection systems of the U.S. to provide safe food to the public,” it stated in a letter defending the rule to the Washington Post, which reported in July that members of Congress and 35 other organizations had raised concerns about NSIS.

The U.S. House is considering legislation to delay implementation of the NSIS, according to various news sources.