USDA Issues Final Rule on Swine Inspection Service

(WASHINGTON, DC) USDA’s final rule on its New Swine Inspection Service (NSIS) was sent to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review last week. The rule is part of an effort by the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to ensure a safe supply of American pork. A voluntary program, NSIS aims to improve the inspection process by shifting FSIS employees’ responsibilities to focus on inspection duties more directly related to food safety and animal welfare (like plant sanitation and humane handling). In turn, pre-inspection sorting and quality control tasks would be delegated to plant employees on the line. Final inspection accountability and authority remains with the USDA. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has strongly supported USDA’s proposed rule, which will increase efficiency and effectiveness of the federal inspection process, allow for the rapid adoption of new food-safety technologies in pork slaughter, and has the potential to increase U.S. harvest capacity.