Number: RL34202
Title: State-Inspected Meat and Poultry: Issues for Congress
Authors: Geoffrey S. Becker, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: The The House-passed farm bill would have replaced (rather than supplemented) the current federal-state cooperative inspection programs with a new program to enable meat and poultry that is not federally inspected to be shipped across state lines, so long as the state programs adopted standards identical to those of USDA along with any additional changes USDA required. The House bill also would have enabled many plants currently under federal inspection to apply for state inspection and continue to ship interstate. Opponents of this change feared that many would seek to opt out of the federal system if they believed that could receive more lenient oversight by the states - an assertion that state proponents dismissed. If the conference farm bill becomes law, as many anticipate, stakeholders will next turn their attention to USDA, where implementation details will be determined through the rulemaking process.
Pages: 14
Date: Updated May 22, 2008