The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced this week that new actions would be taken to reduce regulations on U.S. pork and poultry industries, maintaining food safety standards and allowing greater efficiencies. These changes include directing the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to get rid of administrative requirements which increased costs for agricultural producers and slowed production. Through this new policy, FSIS will extend waivers and immediately begin the rulemaking process to formalize these changes, allowing these processing facilities to maintain higher line speeds. Also, FSIS would not require plants to submit redundant worker safety data due to extensive research failing to connect the processing speeds and injuries in the plants. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said, “America leads the world in pork and poultry production, and we are committed to ensuring our producers remain competitive on a global scale without being held back by unnecessary bureaucracy. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are cutting unnecessary red tape, empowering businesses to operate more efficiently, and strengthening American agriculture –all while upholding the highest food safety standards.” In a news release, U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairman John Boozman of Arkansas (R-AR) and U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania (R-PA) provided a statement on these changes, “This is great news for American meat and poultry companies that continuously lead food and worker safety standards worldwide. We applaud Secretary Rollins for taking quick and decisive action to allow these businesses to expand their operations in a safe and efficient manner. We look forward to continued collaboration with the Administration throughout the rulemaking process.”