Nebraska legislature passes state meat inspection bill - Brownfield Ag News

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Nebraska legislature passes state meat inspection bill

May 5, 2011 By admin Filed Under: News

The Nebraska state legislature has given final approval to a state meat inspection bill—legislation that could open the door to horse processing in the state.

The sponsor of LB 305, state senator Tyson Larson of O’Neill, calls passage of the bill “a big first step”. It directs the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to come up with a plan for establishing a state meat inspection agency and to report back to the legislature before the 2012 session.

Larson says the bill involves more than just horse processing, but he agrees it’s the issue everyone is talking about. And Larson believes a resumption of horse processing would provide a big economic boost for Nebraska.

“(Providing) a place where our farmers and ranchers—and farmers and ranchers across the nation—could sell their horses to, at a fair market price—because we all know where the horse market is and how it is right now,” Larson says, “and we have half a million—at least half a million—starving and homeless horses across this country, and we need a place to deal with them.”

If the bill becomes law, it could set the stage for a showdown between Nebraska and the federal government. In February, Neil Gaffney of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) told the Lincoln Journal-Star that FSIS would not allow processed horse meat to be shipped, either interstate or internationally, for human consumption.

Larson says it is a states’ rights issue.

“The federal government hasn’t banned horse processing. They’ve banned USDA inspectors from inspecting horses,” he says. “For them to say, since the USDA inspectors cannot do it, the state inspectors cannot do it, is an overreach of the federal government into the state government.”

The bill passed the Nebraska legislature on vote of 43-to-one, with five abstentions. Larson says the president of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, asked him early on to pull the bill—but he says HSUS voiced very little opposition as the bill went through the legislative process.

AUDIO: Sen. Tyson Larson (9 min MP3)

Tags: horse slaughter, Horses, HSUS, Nebraska

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Samantha says:

May 22, 2011 at 11:53 pm

I just want to say I am so relieved to be hearing this. I have studied this subject for 6 years and have always wondered when someone was gonna pull their head out of their butt. I have argued with countless people about the subject and asked them if they knew what it was like to be a horse right now. While the Animal Rights Activists tried to do something good in their eyes they have actually caused more problems and then turned a blind eye to it. I am so happy that there aren’t going to be horses dumped out in the middle of nowhere to starve or dehydrate to death. I’m glad there is gonna be a bottom price on horses again so people who should have horses will have them and the people who want them but can’t afford them won’t go out and buy something that can kill them. I also think it is a great way to boost the economy of not only Nebraska but of the entire US. Because by opening a processing plant and exporting the meat again we are creating jobs, boosting the horse industry, which boosts the economy, it boosts the racing industry, which boosts gambling therefore boosting the economy, and it also boosts the breeding business which again boosts the economy. Again I am so relieved to hear this not only for the economy but for the horses.

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