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Tell Your Congressmen to Cosponsor HR 2814 / S.907
Congress has returned from its summer break. It will now be stepping up its work on the 2023 Farm Bill. Thanks to those of you who responded to last month’s alert and contacted their senators and representatives. Your calls and emails have made a difference; the chances for the PRIME Act to be included in the Farm Bill are greater than they were a month ago.
The PRIME Act [House Resolution 2814 (H.R. 2814) and Senate Bill 907 (S.907)], badly needed legislation that would allow states to pass laws legalizing the sale of custom slaughtered and processed meat in intrastate commerce, has been before Congress the past eight years; there has never been a better chance to pass this bill than now.
The PRIME Act has a better chance of passing into law as part of the Farm Bill rather than as stand-alone legislation. Giving the bill momentum was a congressional hearing in June that the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held titled “Where Is the Beef? Regulatory Barriers to Entry and Competition in Meat Processing”; a focus was on the PRIME Act as a solution to the difficulties small farmers and ranchers have in meeting demand for local meat with the current laws in place that favor the big meatpackers. There had never been a congressional hearing on the PRIME Act since Rep. Thomas Massie first introduced the measure in 2015.
It remains important for you to contact again anyone representing you in Congress who did not sign onto the PRIME Act as a cosponsor. To assure inclusion in the Farm Bill, the more cosponsors HR 2814/S.907 can get, the greater the chance of the measure passing. Your participation and help is making that happen.
ACTION TO TAKE
1. Call and/or email your U.S. Representative and both your U.S.Senators and ask to sign onto HR 2814 / S907, if they have not already done so (tap the bill links below to see list of cosponsors). Calls are best.
HR2814 – https://www.congress.gov/bil l/118th-congress/house-bill/ 2814/cosponsors
S.907 – https://www.congress.gov/bil l/118th-congress/senate-bill/ 907/cosponsors
You can look up who represents you at https://www.congress.gov or call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
TALKING POINTS
1. Passage of the PRIME Act would better enable farmers to meet booming demand for locally produced meat. Right now in parts of the country, farmers have to book a slaughterhouse slot as much as 1-1/2 to 2 years out. Moreover, farmers often have to transport their animals several hours to a slaughterhouse, increasing their expenses and stressing out the animals which could affect the quality of the meat. Passage of the PRIME Act would significantly increase access to local slaughterhouses.
2. Passage of the PRIME Act would improve food safety. Anywhere from 95% to 99% of the meat produced in the U.S. is slaughtered in huge facilities that process 300–400 cattle an hour. It is difficult to have quality control in the plant under those conditions no matter how many inspectors are present. The records bear this out. According to CDC statistics from 2005–2020, there were thousands of foodborne illness from the consumption of beef and pork. The big plants process more animals in a day than a custom house would in a year. There is better quality control in a custom slaughterhouse, inspector or no inspector. A 2020 FOIA request to USDA, seeking the number of foodborne illnesses from 2012 to 2020 attributed to the consumption of meat slaughtered and processed at a custom facility received a response from USDA that it had no record of any such illnesses. Custom operators have every incentive to process clean meat. Where a lawsuit against a big plant is just a cost of doing business, one lawsuit can easily shut down a custom house.
3. Passage of the PRIME Act would improve food security. Supply chain breakdowns and labor shortages have made the food supply more vulnerable. Passage of the PRIME Act would improve food security by increasing the local supply of quality meat, food that for most of us is critical for a healthy diet.
4. Passage of the PRIME Act would not be competition to the conventional meat industry; the meatpacker and small farms have mostly different markets. One sells mainly into the export market and big supermarket chains; the other sells into local communities direct to consumers and small mom-and-pop stores.
5. Passage of the PRIME Act would keep more of the food dollar in the state and community. The big food corporations send much of the money they earn out of the state; more of the money that local farmers, ranchers and custom house operators earn would circulate within the state and community, strengthening the local economy.
6. The PRIME Act would create jobs. More custom slaughterhouse operations would start up if meat from those facilities could be sold by the cut. Many of the people who would be starting up a custom operation are not interested in operating a federally inspected slaughterhouse; both expenses and red tape are much greater for the latter.
7. The PRIME Act would improve animal welfare; most farmers would not have to transport their animals as great a distance if they could take them to a custom house. This would result in less potential for injury. Animals overall are treated more humanely in custom facilities than in USDA facilities, in many of which thousands of animals are slaughtered and processed per day.
8. Passage of the PRIME Act would benefit the environment by reducing the carbon footprint in the transport of animals to slaughterhouses. The majority of farmers live closer to a custom slaughterhouse than to an inspected facility.
MORE BACKGROUND
Current law provides that the sale of meat is legal only if the animal is slaughtered and processed at a facility under state or federal inspection; “inspection” in this context means that an inspector is present when slaughtering or processing takes place. This requirement went into effect due to Congress passing the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967, disastrous legislation that has been largely responsible for the formation of oligopolies in the beef and pork industries. Custom slaughter and processing facilities do not require that an inspector be present, but only the owners of the animals are allowed to receive the meat slaughtered and processed at custom houses. The sale of custom meat is illegal. The PRIME Act would lift the federal ban on the sale of custom meat. Custom facilities would still be subject to federal and state regulations, including inspection; however, inspectors would no longer have to be on site at custom facilities during slaughtering and processing of animals for meat sales to be legal in intrastate commerce.
Further alerts will be sent out on the PRIME Act as events warrant .
LINKS
HR 2814 – https://www.congress.gov/bil l/118th-congress/house-bill/ 2814
S907 – https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/907/cosponsors
Hearing video – https://youtu.be/jky4-J-Tsc0
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Hello! I really want to participate in this by calling and requestion cosponsoring from the representatives of my area…But I have not idea what to say…?
Please support and sign HR2814 and S907?? Just as simple as that?
Please if you can help me with an idea of what to day that would be awesome…that way I can add my grain of salt and help!
Thank you
Hi there. When they ask why use the seven speaking points they have numbered above. Good luck!
Hello Sheila, In regards to
“Please support and sign HR2814 and S907?? Just as simple as that?”
I would say, YES…because most of these people taking the calls are all into the NUMBERS. What I have learned: The politicians we are typically contacting: They have Secretaries, assistants, and volunteers etc. (who typically are not very informed on the very issue they are tabulating votes for or against)… and if they got 100 phone calls saying please vote YES/NO on issue x than that weighs on them considerably.
Talking points are good for the occasions when you need or want to discuss the matter further with any given person.
Other organizations that want to get a big response from their supporters create an email that supporters only have to fill in Senators or Representatives names and then sign their own name at the bottom and then click a send button. Too many people are not tech savvy and/or do not have the time or knowledge to formulate their own custom message and send it individually.
Please support and sign HR2814 and S907.
Except you would only include HR2814 to your Rep. and S907 to your Senator.
Randy Manning
Please support and sign HR2814 and S907.
Birmingham, Alabama
I contacted my Senators regarding this and received the following reply from Senator Tammy Baldwin. Any comments?
Dear Jill:
Thank you for contacting me to share your support for local food systems and concerns about food safety inspection requirements limiting processing opportunities for farmers. It’s good to hear from you on this issue.
In Wisconsin, agriculture is more than a way of life – it is the backbone of our state’s economy. With over 64,000 farms across the state, agriculture contributes $104 billion annually to Wisconsin’s economy and employs 435,000 people. I believe it is critically important that Americans have access to a safe and reliable food supply. As a state with a strong agricultural economy, Wisconsin has an important role to play in this regard, and I am committed to supporting local food production and family farms in our state, so that consumers have safe food and our local and regional food systems thrive.
Under current federal law, meat that is slaughtered in a custom slaughter facility is not required to be inspected for disease by federal or state officials, and because of this, it is ineligible to be sold commercially. However, custom slaughter facilities are inspected by state officials to verify compliance with safe sanitation practices. Meat that is slaughtered at a state-inspected facility is checked for disease and the facility’s sanitation practices are also verified. Products from state-inspected facilities may be commercially distributed throughout the state, and products produced at state-inspected facilities participating in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) program may be sold throughout the country. The State of Wisconsin participates in this program, and Wisconsin has approximately 248 state-inspected meat processing facilities located throughout the state, 26 of which participate in the CIS program.
On March 22, 2023, Senator Angus King (I-ME), reintroduced the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act (PRIME) Act (S.907). This bill would expand the exemption of custom slaughtering of animals from federal inspection requirements, enabling states to allow intrastate commercial distribution of meat slaughtered at custom facilities within that state. Currently, meat that is custom-slaughtered can only be used in the household of the owner. The PRIME Act would permit custom-slaughtered meat to be distributed to intrastate consumers, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and other establishments. The PRIME Act has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, on which I do not serve.
I believe it is critical that our food safety standards adequately protect consumers. I also believe we must craft an agriculture policy that protects our farmers, preserves the environment, bolsters our social programs, contributes to our local communities and allows consumers across the country access to high quality fresh products. As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FDA, and as a member of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind should this issue come before me in the United States Senate.
Once again, thank you for contacting my office. It is important for me to hear from the people of Wisconsin on the issues, thoughts and concerns that matter most to you. If I can be of further assistance, please visit my website at http://www.baldwin.senate.gov for information on how to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Tammy Baldwin
United States Senator
Forgive my ignorance, but should the federal government only have jurisdiction on interstate commerce? Take a look at how Southwest Airlines got started–avoided federal Interstate commerce regulation by flying only within Texas.