In a recent hearing, Jeffrey White, U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of California, upheld a USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) program for pork processing plants that gives plant employees a greater role in the inspection process. The New Swine Slaughter Inspection System, enacted by the agency in late 2019, changed the way pork slaughterhouses run, ruling that pork processing plants’ employees could conduct inspections in the plant, thereby reducing the number of government inspectors needed by as much as 40%.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Food and Water Watch, the Center for Food Safety, and the Humane Farming Association. The lawsuit alleged that NSIS violated the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). In his ruling, Judge White noted that the inspections by employees did not violate this legislation.
In his ruling, Judge White stated that, although the 2019 final rule permits plant employees to pre-sort animals