Sixty-eight members of Congress sent a joint letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday, asking that he withdraw an agency proposal that would substantially change how chickens and turkeys are inspected and processed in poultry plants across America.
In the four-page letter, lawmakers said they were worried that the proposed system would “undermine” the agency’s “food safety and humane slaughter practices” due, in part, to provisions that would replace 40 percent of government inspectors with plant employees while also allowing plants to speed up processing lines by up to 25 percent.
The group of U.S. representatives said the processing line increases would likely compromise the safety of workers, who already suffer from high rates of carpal tunnel syndrome. The letter also cited an Oct. 29 Washington Post article that detailed problems with animal cruelty with current line speeds, which could be exacerbated under the new proposal.
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