Source: Andrew Martin, BLOOMBERG, 12/7/18


A U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal to overhaul how hog slaughterhouses are inspected and allow faster production lines relied on flawed data that played down dangers to workers, according to an academic report issued Wednesday. The USDA announced the inspection proposal in January. It would shift some of the responsibilities of federal inspectors to plant workers and lift caps on how fast hogs can be slaughtered as they move along the production line. Line speeds have historically been limited by the ability of government inspectors to examine each carcass. In hog plants, line speeds are currently capped at 1,106 hogs per hour.

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