Booker Urges USDA to Reject Trump Proposals That Would Expose Meatpacking Workers to Gruesome Injuries

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) are co-leading a letter urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to reject proposed rules that would permanently increase line speeds in poultry and pork processing facilities. In a letter sent to USDA Under Secretary Mindy Brashears, the lawmakers warned that the proposed changes would increase the risk of debilitating injuries among meatpacking workers, including the possibility of amputations, weaken food safety protections, and eliminate key worker safety reporting requirements. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) also co-signed the letter. “Line speed limits exist to protect workers and food safety, and increasing those limits with no new safeguards only worsens the risks. 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, hearing loss, and other injuries,” the lawmakers wrote. The lawmakers continued, “USDA’s own research shows that over 81% of poultry workers, and 46% of hog slaughter workers, are at high risk for musculoskeletal disorders, and line speed increases are associated with greater injury risk of upper-body disorders in both poultry and pork facilities.” “It is unacceptable to create a work environment that will increase harm to workers and to subject them to more life-changing injury and the public to more foodborne illness. To align with the growing national demand for more transparency about the quality of American food, we urge you to not move forward with this proposal,” concluded the lawmakers. Read the full text of the letter here.