A federal judge has thrown out a rule allowing pork plants to speed up production lines because the U.S. Department of Agriculture didn't properly consider the risks to workers.

The judge in Minnesota ruled Wednesday that the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service didn't follow proper procedures before President Donald Trump's administration issued the rule in 2019. The lawsuit was filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union along with local unions in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma and the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen said the agency “expressly identified worker safety as an important consideration and requested public comment on whether increasing line speeds would harm workers. Then, after receiving many comments raising worker safety concerns, FSIS rejected the comments and eliminated line speed limits without considering worker safety.”

... "With the success of this lawsuit, our country’s essential workers have sent a powerful message that the safety of America’s food and workers is not for sale and that these companies will finally be forced to stop these dangerous practices,” UFCW International President Marc Perrone said.