Interstate Shipping
INTERSTATE SHIPPING
NCBA Staff Contact:
Jason Jordan, Manager of Legislative Affairs
202-347-0228
jjordan@beef.org
Summary:
NCBA is supporting efforts in the 110th Congress to allow state-inspected processing plants to ship beef across state lines just like federally inspected plants.
· On May 15, 2007, Reps. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced H.R. 2315, the New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2007, along with 15 other cosponsors.
· Senator Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) introduced S. 1150, the New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act of 2007 on April 14.
· A similar bill (S. 1149) was also introduced in the Senate on April 14 by Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). This bill is a simpler version of legislation that would eliminate the interstate meat shipment ban.
Current efforts are on securing legislative language in the 2007 Farm Bill. This language was included in both the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill, which is headed to conference committee in early 2008.
NCBA policy supports this legislation as a way for state-regulated businesses to compete in interstate commerce and great opportunity for cattle producers and small local businesses to market branded beef products.
Background:
Federal law requires the USDA to inspect all meat products. In the 1960s Congress created state inspection programs that are mandated to be “at least equal to” the federal inspection program. Perishable products – including milk and other dairy items, fruit, vegetables, and fish – are freely shipped across state lines after state inspection. But standard meat products, like poultry, beef, and pork, are prohibited from interstate commerce, despite decades of meeting or surpassing the federal inspection standards.
Currently, state-regulated meat and poultry inspection programs exist in 28 states. These programs serve about 2,000 small or very small establishments.
The existing law penalizes smaller American companies while companies from as many as 30 foreign nations are permitted to sell meats freely in any state.
Key Points:
· It’s unfair that smaller beef producers are not able to ship and sell their products outside their own state when interstate sales of other food products aren’t restricted at all.
· This outdated policy hurts many of our country’s small businesses who deserve an equal right to compete in the national market. Most state inspected meat processors are owned and operated by small businesses and they are being held back.
· State inspection programs meet the federal requirements, so it makes no sense that meat deemed safe by the state can’t be sold across state lines.
· NCBA policy supports this legislation as a way for state-regulated businesses to compete in interstate commerce and great opportunity for cattle producers and small local businesses to market branded beef products.