USDA addresses proposed state inspection changes

Proposed legislative changes to meat and poultry inspection services in various states could make those programs inconsistent with federal requirements, the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said in a letter to state meat and poultry inspection directors. State inspection programs must be found to be “at least equal to” the federal program on nine components: statutory authority and food safety regulations, inspection, product sampling programs, staffing, training and supervision, humane handling, compliance, laboratory methods and quality assurance programs,  civil rights, and financial accountability.“Most of the draft legislation we have seen exempts from requiring inspection and labeling certain types of food products, including meat and poultry, depending on the manner and place of sale and the type of purchaser or end consumer. Some of these proposed exemptions appear to be consistent with Federal statutory and regulatory requirements, but many do not,” Carl Mayes, assistant administrator for the FSIS Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit said, in the letter.FSIS listed examples where state bills differ from federal requirements:-- State legislation exempting from inspection and regulation the processing of meat and meat products by producers or other business, other than retail stores and restaurants, for sale to consumers who have been informed that the products were processed without inspection.-- State legislation that exempts from state inspection poultry producers that slaughter or prepare 1,000 or fewer birds for intrastate sales, but does not specifically require the producer who raised the poultry also to slaughter them.-- State legislation that would allow rental contracts between certain poultry producers and slaughterhouses, making the rental slaughterhouses exempt from state inspection.-- State legislation that would amend a state’s definition of “custom” slaughter and processing to eliminate periodic state review of sanitation and wholesomeness for products produced by these operations. Eliminating these reviews would call into question compliance with federal sanitation requirements for custom slaughter and processing establishments exempt from mandatory inspection.-- State legislation that would permit the slaughtering of livestock and direct sale of meat to consumers who are members of a “herd share” or similar organization that might, in turn, resell the meat. Such a provision would not be permitted under federal custom slaughter exemption provisions, because it does not limit the sale of the livestock to consumers for their personal use.