Washington — A group of Democratic lawmakers is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to abandon efforts to permanently raise line speed limits at some poultry-processing facilities and remove maximum speeds for certain pork processors.
“Line speed limits exist to protect workers and food safety, and increasing those limits with no new safeguards only worsens the risks,” the group, led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), wrote in an April 30 letter addressed to FSIS Under Secretary for Food Safety Mindy Brashears. “Meatpacking and poultry workers must perform repetitive, forceful tasks with knives and saws in very crowded, excessively noisy and wet spaces, often in extreme temperatures.
“Studies are clear that this work leaves them at very high risk of serious musculoskeletal disorders of the hand, wrist and shoulder; amputations; devastating injuries from slipping; and hearing loss and other injuries.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) also signed the letter.
FSIS published its proposals on Feb. 19 and accepted comments through April 20.
The pork-processing proposal would allow establishments operating under the agency’s New Swine Inspection System to remove the current maximum line speed of 1,106 hogs an hour. Those facilities would set operating speeds “based on their ability to maintain process control and comply with all food safety requirements,” FSIS says.
Under the proposed poultry-processing rule, USDA would permit facilities operating under its New Poultry Inspection System to permanently run at line speeds of up to 175 birds per minute for chickens (formerly 140) and 60 bpm for turkeys (previously 55). The proposed rule also would remove requirements for establishments to submit annual worker safety data to FSIS.
In March 2025, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that USDA would initiate rulemaking to “formalize” faster line speeds initially allowed at certain facilities under a trial period. The agency also said it would no longer require plant operators to submit worker safety data, calling it “redundant.”
USDA cites separate studies completed by FSIS in January 2025 that explored the effects of increased line speeds on poultry- and pork-processing worker safety. FSIS concluded that increased line speeds in processing facilities, while not the “leading factor in worker musculoskeletal risk,” combine with other factors to contribute to employees’ overall risk.
