ACT NOW: In the wake of a report that hundreds of poultry plants have failed food safety tests, tell the USDA to put the brakes on high-speed slaughter for good: Tweet at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) TODAY!

Last fall, Compassion Over Killing’s gut-wrenching investigation revealed to millions the truth behind the USDA’s high-speed chicken slaughter program, which provides plants with waivers allowing them to increase already dangerously fast kill line speeds from 140 to 175 birds per minute—nearly three birds every second. A requirement of this waiver is that plants must meet certain criteria — including the ability to maintain food safety.

Now, POLITICO has reported that hundreds of individual poultry plants have failed food safety tests, including dozens of plants that have or are eligible for high-speed waivers.

However, FSIS says that these failures don’t necessarily mean plants will lose their high-speed waivers. In fact, according to FSIS Administrator Carmen Rottenberg, the USDA is now even considering rulemaking to remove the waiver system and increase slaughter caps to the staggering rate of 175 birds per minute across the board later this year, despite the fact that an industry-wide line speed increase has already been proposed and rejected by the agency–twice.

High-speed slaughter poses dangers to consumers, workers, and animals. As line speeds increase it becomes more and more difficult to ensure food safety and detect contamination when it occurs–especially since the plants in the USDA’s New Poultry Inspection System program have plant employees conducting inspections, leading to fewer government inspectors on the floor. This means drastically reduced government oversight and accountability.

Despite the continuous exposure by COK’s investigations of high-speed slaughter horrors, the USDA continues to drive this dangerous program forward, in reckless disregard of consumer concerns and widespread public opposition.

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Click here to tweet at FSIS that the slaughterhouse is no place for a race, or use our sample tweet below!

SAMPLE TWEET: The slaughterhouse is no place for a race, @USDAFoodSafety! Hundreds of poultry plants are failing food safety testing. It’s time to put the brakes on high-speed slaughter lines, not speed them up! http://bit.ly/foodsafetyfailure via @TryVeg