Food Archives - Safety+Health Magazine

Restroom access and paying for PPE: Colorado governor signs new law

S+H Staff — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 16:58:27 +0000

Denver — Colorado has enacted a law that prohibits employers in the state from deducting from workers’ wages the costs of certain personal protective equipment. S.B. 26-160, signed by Gov. Jared Polis (D) on June 3, contains a few exceptions. Among them: Nonspecialty safety-toe protective footwear, including steel-toe shoes and boots, or nonspecialty prescription safety […]

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Fatal blast leads to call for better awareness of equipment limitations

S+H Staff — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:38:37 +0000

Washington — Chemical facility operators need to ensure their equipment can function within safe operating limits, the Chemical Safety Board says in a new final report. The report details the investigation of a November 2024 incident at the Givaudan Sense Colour facility in Louisville, KY. Two workers died and three were seriously injured when a […]

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Democrats push USDA to maintain meat-processing line speed limits

S+H Staff — Wed, 13 May 2026 18:23:31 +0000

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 […]

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Pennsylvania lawmakers pass legislation intended to protect meatpackers

S+H Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:57:10 +0000

Harrisburg, PA — A bill aimed at strengthening protections for meatpacking and food processing workers has advanced out of the Pennsylvania House. H.B. 1923, sponsored by Rep. Jim Haddock (D-Luzerne/Lackawanna), would: Require processing facilities to establish health and safety committees. Mandate that employers provide training in all languages that at least 5% of workers speak. […]

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USDA seeking to change line-speed restrictions in some meat-processing plants

S+H Staff — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:35:33 +0000

Washington — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is requesting comment on proposed rules that would remove maximum line speeds at eligible pork-processing facilities and permanently raise some poultry-processing line speed limits. Published on Feb. 19, the proposals have met opposition from worker safety advocates. Under the proposed pork-processing rule, USDA would allow establishments operating under […]

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USDA moves to protect inspectors from carbon monoxide poisoning

S+H Staff — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Washington — In response to a string of preventable carbon monoxide poisonings, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service has begun equipping inspection workers with wearable CO detectors.

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Shaking off perceptions of ‘dirty work’ can aid employee well-being: study

S+H Staff — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Cincinnati — Stigma attached to jobs that “society deems unfavorable” may leave workers feeling down about themselves, but channeling self-confidence can help curb negative emotions, University of Cincinnati researchers say.

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Bill aimed at setting faster line speeds for pork and poultry processing

S+H Staff — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Washington — A House Republican has introduced legislation that would create a structure to allow pork- and poultry-processing plants to operate at faster line speeds – a move opposed by worker safety advocates.

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California employer pleads guilty to criminal charges related to fatal nitrogen leak

S+H Staff — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Los Angeles — A food processing plant operator has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor criminal counts stemming from a nitrogen gas leak that killed two workers at a facility in Vernon, CA.

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Chemical Safety Board releases update on fatal blast at food-coloring plant

S+H Staff — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Washington — Chemicals used during the production of caramel coloring for food products have the capacity to prompt a “hazardous runaway reaction,” the Chemical Safety Board says.

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