Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 1/14/20

Food & Water Watch and the Center for Food Safety are challenging USDA's overhaul of pork plant inspections, claiming the changes will raise the risk of allowing tainted meat into the marketplace.

The final rule released in October removes limits on processing line speeds and shifts certain inspection tasks from federal workers to company employees. USDA contends the changes will allow inspectors to focus on more crucial food safety checks and let meatpackers use their own judgement to set maximum line speeds.

But critics are ringing alarm bells about the potential health consequences for plant workers and consumers alike — and even USDA's own inspectors have warned that "unsafe" pork would likely reach buyers under the new system, NBC reported last month.

The new lawsuit claims USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is effectively turning over critical regulatory duties to the meatpacking companies. "Under- or un-trained plant employees are now charged with identifying and notifying government inspectors when swine carcasses show serious diseases," CFS and FWW allege.

Suits on suits: Other groups have sued FSIS over the rule's potential safety risk to plant employees, who already face a higher risk of injury than those in other industries, as well as over USDA's rulemaking process.