Please keep consumers and poultry workers safe and reject this petition to eliminate line speeds. We depend upon America’s poultry workers for safe food.
Poultry jobs are already difficult and dangerous for workers. Injuries are high at current line speeds and may only increase at faster speeds.
Eliminating line speed limits makes it harder for federal meat inspectors and quality control workers in plants to do their jobs. That means it will be less safe for all of us to eat chicken.
We deserve safe food, and America’s poultry workers deserve safe workplaces. Reject this petition and keep safe line speed limits in poultry plants.
Keep Our Jobs and Food Safe
Jobs inside poultry plants are some of the most dangerous and difficult in America, and the risk to food workers and our food supply increase when the line speeds increase.
Why?
As line speeds increase, so do injuries — including serious and bloody cuts. Unbelievably, major poultry industry groups are ignoring these risks and lobbying the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Congress to eliminate line speed limits entirely.
Forcing poultry workers and federal meat inspectors to work significantly faster will increase the odds they’re injured and make chicken less safe for every consumer to eat.
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FACTS
Here are some facts you can include in your comment as well:
Poultry workers are at twice the risk of being injured on the job compared to other American workers, according to a 2016 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). These injuries are directly related to the fast and forceful nature of their work.
If current line speeds are increased, federal inspectors who are tasked with spotting contaminated birds may be forced to examine more than two per second for abscesses, tumors, or other diseases.
Countries which allow faster line speeds have more issues with food safety. Germany allows line speeds up to 200 BPM and their poultry meat is found to have higher levels of Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination.
At current line speeds, poultry workers at nonunion plants were regularly denied bathroom breaks and forced to wear diapers, according to a 2016 Oxfam report.