After having been briefly banned from the 2016 fiscal year’s federal prison menus earlier this month, pork has again returned to the menu.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons found itself the recipient of complaints from various entities, including the American pork industry and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (R), for its decision to remove pork products from prison menus.
The decision to reverse the ban was disclosed to The Washington Post just hours after the Republican senator expressed his dismay with the decision — The Post was the first to report on the reversal.
Sen. Grassley’s office told Fox News that the prison bureau has informed them of their decision to reverse the ban.
With pork returning to the menu, Grassley issued a Friday afternoon statement in which he praised the bureau’s decision while noting that “there are still questions” regarding the original decision and the cost of surveys.
The decision by the Bureau of Prisons to completely remove pork from its menus was ham-handed at best. I appreciate the quick decision after my letter to the bureau to keep pork products on prison menus. (…) But, there are still questions about how the original determination was made and the cost of conducting the surveys.
In his letter to Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels Jr., Grassley referred to the “unprecedented” decision as one which would “have consequences” for American citizens employed by the pork industry.
(The decision would) have consequences on the livelihoods of American citizens who work in the pork industry.
He also noted in his letter to the director that the U.S. is the “largest exporter of pork” in the world, as well as the third largest pork producer.
The United States is the world’s largest exporter of pork, and the third largest producer of pork
Grassley serves is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with the oversight of the federal prison system.
The new pork policy kicked in on October 1, 2015. Since coming into play, the ban has reportedly affected 206,000 federal inmates.
