The meat industry is lobbying to unwind recent efforts to strengthen food safety standards, nonprofit National Consumers League said Wednesday.
In a letter sent to the White House in late January, industry group Meat Institute called on President Trump to have the U.S. Department of Agriculture withdraw its proposal to set tougher regulations aimed at preventing Salmonella in poultry, a proposal called "one of the great advances in food safety in a generation" by nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Instead, Meat Institute said the rules should be a "performance standard," meaning they wouldn't be legally binding.
The trade group also said Trump should have the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency withdraw a proposal to toughen regulations on water pollution from meat production.
Meat Institute didn't immediately respond to ConsumerAffairs's request for comment.
Poor food safety and working conditions, as seen in allegations of child labor that led to settlements in January, are why regulations have been tightened on the meat industry, said National Consumers League Chief Executive Sally Greenberg, in a statement.
“The horrifying conditions Upton Sinclair exposed in The Jungle led to critical reforms such as the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 — laws that NCL championed that continue to safeguard public health and ensure the safety of our food supply," she said. "We cannot afford to go backward."