The USDA has proposed eliminating slaughter line speed limits for pigs and significantly increasing them for birds, all while gutting worker safety oversight in one of the country’s most dangerous industries.
The public comment window closes this Monday, April 20.
What this proposal means
Slaughter line speeds determine how many animals are killed per hour at processing facilities. For years, the USDA has sought to eliminate or reduce these limits, prioritizing industry output over every other consideration, while violating multiple federal laws. This latest proposal takes that further than ever, effectively removing the caps for pigs entirely and dramatically raising them for birds.
The consequences are serious and far-reaching.
When lines move faster, animals experience more suffering and distress. Workers, already laboring in one of the most physically dangerous jobs in the country, face significantly higher rates of injury. And with the USDA also proposing to eliminate its own oversight responsibilities for worker safety, there would be even less accountability to prevent harm.
This is not progress. It is a rollback of hard-won protections for animals, people, and the environment, driven by the interests of an industry that has long sought to operate with fewer constraints.
Where Animal Place stands
Animal Place has joined the Line Speeds Working Group, a broad coalition of animal protection, worker advocacy, and public interest organizations, in formally opposing this proposal. Together, we are submitting public comments calling on the USDA to reject these changes as unjust, inhumane, dangerous, and unlawful.
We believe a more compassionate world is possible, one where animals are not treated as units on an assembly line, and where the humans working in these industries are protected, not expendable.
This proposal moves us in exactly the wrong direction.
Public comments are among the most direct ways for YOU to influence federal policy. Submitting one takes just a few minutes, and every comment is part of the official record that regulators must consider.
Join us and make your voice heard by Monday, 4/20/26.
