News

Rule published to allow interstate sale of state-inspected meat

USDA has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register which would allow the sale of state-inspected meat across state lines. There are 27 states that currently have state meat or poultry inspection programs that are at least equal to those imposed under federal inspection, a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill would allow those state-inspected plants with 25 or fewer employees to ship product across state lines for the very first time.

USDA will accept comments on the rule under which state inspectors will be federally trained, with a federal inspection employee verifying that small state-inspected plants meet federal food safety requirements. Meat produced by these local plants will carry the USDA mark of inspection.

Many state-inspected meat plants were asking for the change to allow them to take advantage of out-of-state sales via the internet.

Read the posting in the Federal Register