Take Action: Production Line Speed Changes Petition
Increasing line speeds at slaughterhouses is dangerous for workers, cruel to animals, and threatens food safety.
As an animal welfare organization, Herd and Flock is horrified by the animal agriculture corporations’ efforts once again to increase line speeds which will hurt animals, workers, and consumers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture already permits reckless line speeds of slaughtering 1,106 hogs per hour and 140 birds per minute, but the meat industry, in its relentless pursuit of profit, wants to be able to kill even more animals. When it comes to animal welfare, the rule change would make large-scale slaughter crueler than ever.
With a frantic pace of production, hastily shackled chickens can be dragged by broken legs, miss the stun bath and have their throats cut while fully conscious, or miss the blade and be submerged in boiling water alive. Pigs can also suffer from improperly performed stunning, botched slaughter and live submersion into boiling water, issues that become more frequent at higher speeds.
This change would also harm slaughter plant workers, as increased line speeds pose grave health and safety threats for them along with punishing psychological stress associated with endless hours on the fast-moving kill line.
Accelerated line speeds may endanger consumers too, creating the potential for food safety failures as workers face substantial challenges that hamper their ability to perform their jobs effectively, and veterinary inspectors have less time to examine animal carcasses to ensure that they are safe for human consumption.
Please join us to demand that the USDA not sacrifice animal welfare, worker safety, and public health in the service of meat industry profits! Sign on to the petition below and use the prewritten letter, edit it as you see fit, or write your own.