The US Department of Agriculture will put up to $50 million into helping states start or expand their own meat inspection programmes. Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced the Stand-Up Program on 16 September, saying it carries out the president's 4 September executive order to widen market access for American meat producers and strengthen the domestic supply chain.

Thirty states ran State Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programmes at the time of the announcement, and 11 of them also take part in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) programme, under which state-inspected plants can sell across state lines under the USDA mark. States told the department that high start-up costs had put them off launching programmes of their own; the new money is meant to remove that barrier so that more small, very small and mid-size processors are inspected and more ranchers have a place to process nearby.

"Too many states have wanted a food inspection program of their own and could not get past the start-up costs. Now they can," Rollins said. "Food safety standards will not move, and more state programs mean more local processing, more competition for the rancher's cattle, and more American meat on American tables."

State programmes must operate "at least equal to" federal food-safety standards, and plants under them can sell throughout their state; a state joining CIS must show its inspection is the "same as" the federal standard. Under Secretary Mindy Brashears said investing in state partners adds processing capacity in rural America in a way that is practical, science-based and built to protect public health. The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) runs the partnerships.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association welcomed the funding but said money alone will not do it. High regulatory and compliance costs have kept states out, the association said, and persistent labour shortages in processing keep efforts to diversify processing options uncertain; structural changes inside the programme are needed to bring more states in. NCBA said it looked forward to further details.

The states with MPI programmes when the initiative was announced were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming; the CIS members are Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, Maine, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

From a USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service release and a National Cattlemen's Beef Association statement published by Morning Ag Clips.

Source: Morning Ag Clips