A federal judge has vacated the portion of USDA’s 2019 swine inspection rule allowing plants to operate without limits on line speeds but gave the department 90 days to respond to the decision.

The House Agriculture Committee will debate a $16 billion stimulus measure that includes a substantial down payment on Democrats’ promise to address racial justice issues. The committee’s draft bill, which will be part of a broader $1.9 trillion stimulus package, would provide sweeping debt relief to minority farmers on USDA loans.

Packing plants shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic are mostly up and running once again, which is placing a new focus on testing and the availability of personal protective equipment to keep their doors open. 

Thirteen members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union who work in meatpacking or food processing have died after contracting COVID-19, UFCW said on a media call today to press for personal protective equipment and testing.

The novel coronavirus is living up to its name, ushering in a new way of life for America’s food companies, most notably the meat industry.

USDA’s Food Safety and inspection Service failed to explain why it did not consider worker safety in a 2019 rule allowing pork slaughter facilities to increase line speeds, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

New rulemaking from the Department of Agriculture will allow swine slaughter facilities to opt in to a new inspection system that focuses on new requirements for microbial testing and pathogen control.