The pork industry is currently restricted to slaughtering no more than 1,106 animals per hour in the US, but slaughterhouses are forcing through legislation which would remove the ‘speed limit’ on killing.

The federal government is expected to adopt a new rule which would allow pork plants to kill animals as fast as they can manage.

Restrictions are in place to allow time for inspectors to check animal carcasses to ensure they’re safe to consume.

The new rule will allow factories to become more efficient and therefore make more money, while the government would not need to employ as many inspectors to check the bodies.

The pork industry argues that six-month-old hogs which are around 250 pounds are healthy, and removing speed limits would help them to be more flexible with scheduling and staffing, according to the New York Times. 

Critics of the new rules laid out by the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service say they could have negative impacts on public health, workers’ rights and animal welfare.

Government inspectors look at, examine and sniff carcasses throughout the production line who examine and sniff meat to check for signs of disease.

Currently there are seven inspectors per production line, which would be reduced to three under new proposals.

Certain stages of inspection would be removed under the new system, but the Food Safety and Inspection Service told the New York Times that all meat would still be inspected.

• Read: 1 MILLION pigs die in raging swine flu outbreak in China’s pork industry

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