Federal food safety officials are updating inspection procedures at pork processing facilities across the country, removing certain physical examination requirements they say are no longer necessary.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced it will eliminate the requirement for cutting into jaw lymph nodes and physically examining internal organs of pig carcasses at all pork slaughter facilities. This applies to plants operating under both traditional inspection methods and the newer inspection system.
According to the agency, these hands-on examination techniques are unnecessary for maintaining food safety standards. Officials point to low condemnation rates for pork and note that disease conditions requiring rejection of meat can be spotted through visual inspection of other changes in the carcass.
The regulatory changes will remove the requirement for facility workers to perform these specific examination procedures before federal post-mortem inspection takes place. Additionally, the agency is modifying staffing requirements for traditional inspection operations.
These adjustments will give the Food Safety and Inspection Service greater flexibility in assigning inspection personnel based on individual facility layouts, operations, and staffing requirements.
