WASHINGTON – National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson spoke in favor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) final rule announced today that will broaden the market for smaller state-inspected plants.
“This new rule will benefit small packing plants across the country by allowing certain state-inspected meat and poultry to cross state lines,” said Johnson. “This should increase market access for these smaller plants. By allowing smaller plants to sell into other states, the rule will help increase competition and grow jobs in rural America. The new rule will benefit family farmers and ranchers who utilize smaller plants, because it will increase the market for their products and ensure they receive a fair price. NFU was very active in ensuring that interstate shipment of state-inspected meat and poultry was placed in the 2008 Farm Bill, so we are pleased to see the final rule take effect.”
For qualifying plants, the FSIS final rule allows meat and poultry that is inspected at the state level to be shipped across state lines, as long as it meets federal standards set under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act. Prior to this rule, plants that were only state-inspected could only sell their meat and poultry within their own state.
Source: NFU