The Clemens Food Group pork packing plant in Coldwater, Mich., has been approved to run faster line speeds under the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) one-year trial program.
According to a post on USDA’s website, the Coldwater plant is now the fourth pork plant to receive this approval under the program.
Last November, FSIS, in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, developed a “time-limited trial” to enable plants to experiment with ergonomics, automation and crewing to create custom work environments that will protect food and worker safety while increasing productivity.
This trial program was created after a court order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in June 2021 vacated the part of the USDA final rule eliminating line speed limits for New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) establishments. As a result, all NSIS establishments are now required to operate at line speeds that do not exceed 1,106 head per hour.
To date, four of the nine eligible packing plants that adopted the NSIS are participating in the time-limited trial allowing approved establishments to operate at an increased line speed for a period of up to one year during which time they will collect data that measures the impact of line speed on workers.
To be eligible to participate in the trial, NSIS establishments must implement worker safety measures included in an agreement with the workers’ union or worker safety committee that represents their employees.
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) believes this trial program will boost capacity and alleviate supply chain issues during a period of strong demand. Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes says if six plants are in the program, the aggregate impact on U.S. pork harvest capacity will be a 3.6% expansion. After one year, that would translate into an increase in live hog prices of 6%.
“We have to play with the hand that we’re dealt,” says Nick Giordano, NPPC vice president and counsel, global government affairs. “We’re less concentrated than we were five years ago. Get us more labor. Let us increase our line speeds. Then, you will see prices go down.”
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Pork Industry Loses Appeal on Line Speeds
Line Speed Issue Raises Ruckus at House Ag Committee Hearing
