As the meat and poultry industry struggles to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, processing line speeds are increasingly becoming a point of contention.

unios representing meat-plant workers, and their allies in Congress, are pressing through legislation and litigation to roll back recent increases in permitted line speeds. The industry is pushing back, arguing that high line speeds are needed to meet the nation’s demand during the crisis.

At issue are USDA regulations that allow processors to run lines faster, either normally or as a response to the pandemic. The United Food and Commercial Workers unio filed a federal lawsuit July 28 to overturn a USDA waiver allowing faster speeds in poultry plants during the crisis.

“As COVID-19 continues to infect thousands of meatpacking workers, it is stunning that USDA is further endangering these workers by allowing poultry companies to increase line speeds to dangerous new levels that increase the risk of injury and make social distancing next to impossible,” unio president Marc Perrone said in a statement.

In addition, legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate that would suspend all current USDA waivers relating to line speeds. A press release from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who introduced the Senate legislation, claims that USDA has issued almost 20 waivers related to line speeds since the pandemic took hold. In addition, the legislation targets a rule change, instituted last fall, that removes limits on hog processing line speeds as long as adequate microbial monitoring is in place.

The industry is insisting that faster line speeds are needed to meet the demand for fresh meat among consumers homebound by the pandemic. In a 14-page letter to Booker and to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kenneth Sullivan, CEO of Smithfield Foods, outlined the measures his company has taken for worker safety and said, “Please understand, processing plants were no more designed to operate in a pandemic than hospitals were designed to produce pork.”