New Interstate Meat Bill Introduced
News Date July 09, 2007
On June 27, Rep. Zach Space (D-Ohio) introduced H.R. 2876 which would allow interstate sales of state-inspected meat and poultry. It is the third interstate meat bill to be introduced in the House as interest and support for legislation continues to grow.
Earlier this spring, H.R. 1760 was introduced by Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) and H.R. 2315 was introduced by Reps. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). H.R. 2876 takes a different approach than other bills to allow interstate meat sales. Specifically, the bill would require USDA to verify that state inspection programs are equal to the federal inspection program. If USDA determines that an individual state plant does not meet the "equal to" federal inspection requirements, then that state plant would not be eligible to ship meat and poultry in interstate commerce.
NASDA has been leading a coalition of national, state and local organizations in support of interstate meat sales legislation. NASDA and the coalition have urged lawmakers to cosponsor all of the bills that have been introduced. (Contact: Charlie Ingram)