October 9, 2012 at 05:53 PM
Occupational safety and health advocates are increasing pressure on the Agriculture Department to drop a hotly contested rulemaking that would effectively speed up poultry plant inspection lines, saying the rule would result in ergonomic, laceration and amputation hazards. But industry says the line speeds under the proposed rule have been shown to be safe for workers in the broiler chicken industry. Sources say part of the strategy on the part of the rule's opponents is to play up alleged food safety risks from increased line speeds, in addition to the worker safety contention, as food safety