II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1291

To permit the interstate distribution of State-inspected meat under certain

circumstances.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 9, 1997

Mr. HATCH (for himself, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr.

ROBERTS, and Mr. BURNS) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To permit the interstate distribution of State-inspected meat

under certain circumstances.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Interstate Distribution

5 of State-Inspected Meat Act of 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. WAIVER OF INTRASTATE DISTRIBUTION LIMITA2 TION.

3 (a) MEAT.—Section 301(a) of the Federal Meat In4 spection Act (21 U.S.C. 661(a)) is amended by adding at

5 the end the following:

6 ‘‘(5) WAIVER OF INTRASTATE DISTRIBUTION

7 LIMITATION.—

8 ‘‘(A) EVALUATION.—On application of a

9 State agency with which the Secretary may co10 operate under this Act, the Secretary shall

11 evaluate the inspection, reinspection, and sani12 tation requirements of the State’s meat inspec13 tion program to verify that the mandatory re14 quirements of the program are at least equal to

15 the Federal requirements of title I and the final

16 rule entitled ‘Pathogen Reduction; Hazard

17 Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)

18 Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 38806), published on

19 July 25, 1996.

20 ‘‘(B) WAIVER.—If the Secretary verifies

21 that the inspection, reinspection, and sanitation

22 requirements of the State’s meat inspection

23 program are at least equal to the Federal re24 quirements described in subparagraph (A), the

25 Secretary shall waive the limitation of para26 graph (1) that restricts meat inspected by the
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1 State to intrastate distribution to allow domes2 tic distribution within the States, territories,

3 and possessions of the United States.

4 ‘‘(C) INSPECTIONS.—

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Following any

6 waiver under subparagraph (B), the Sec7 retary may perform a random inspection of

8 a State-inspected plant within the State to

9 ensure that the inspection, reinspection,

10 and sanitation requirements of the State’s

11 meat inspection program are complied with

12 to the same degree as the Federal require13 ments described in subparagraph (A) are

14 complied with.

15 ‘‘(ii) INSPECTORS.—The Secretary

16 may use an employee of the Department of

17 Agriculture, or may cooperate with the

18 State agency to train and use a State em19 ployee, to perform an inspection under

20 clause (i).

21 ‘‘(iii) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If an inspec22 tion under clause (i) discloses that the in23 spection, reinspection, and sanitation re24 quirements of the State’s meat inspection

25 program are not complied with at a plant
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1 to the same degree as the Federal require2 ments described in subparagraph (A), the

3 Secretary shall reimpose the restriction

4 against the interstate distribution of meat

5 and meat products produced at the plant

6 until a subsequent inspection verifies that

7 the inspection, reinspection, and sanitation

8 requirements of the State’s meat inspec9 tion program are complied with at the

10 plant to the same degree as the Federal re11 quirements described in subparagraph

12 (A).’’.

13 (b) POULTRY.—Section 5(a) of the Poultry Products

14 Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 454(a)) is amended by adding

15 at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(5) WAIVER OF INTRASTATE DISTRIBUTION

17 LIMITATION.—

18 ‘‘(A) EVALUATION.—On application of a

19 State agency with which the Secretary may co20 operate under this Act, the Secretary shall

21 evaluate the inspection, reinspection, and sani22 tation requirements of the State’s poultry in23 spection program to verify that the mandatory

24 requirements of the program are at least equal

25 to the Federal requirements of this Act and the
5

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1 final rule entitled ‘Pathogen Reduction; Hazard

2 Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)

3 Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 38806), published on

4 July 25, 1996.

5 ‘‘(B) WAIVER.—If the Secretary verifies

6 that the inspection, reinspection, and sanitation

7 requirements of the State’s poultry inspection

8 program are at least equal to the Federal re9 quirements described in subparagraph (A), the

10 Secretary shall waive the limitation of para11 graph (1) that restricts poultry inspected by the

12 State to intrastate distribution to allow domes13 tic distribution within the States, territories,

14 and possessions of the United States.

15 ‘‘(C) INSPECTIONS.—

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Following any

17 waiver under subparagraph (B), the Sec18 retary may perform a random inspection of

19 a State-inspected plant within the State to

20 ensure that the inspection, reinspection,

21 and sanitation requirements of the State’s

22 poultry inspection program are complied

23 with to the same degree as the Federal re24 quirements described in subparagraph (A)

25 are complied with.
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1 ‘‘(ii) INSPECTORS.—The Secretary

2 may use an employee of the Department of

3 Agriculture, or may cooperate with the

4 State agency to train and use a State em5 ployee, to perform an inspection under

6 clause (i).

7 ‘‘(iii) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If an inspec8 tion under clause (i) discloses that the in9 spection, reinspection, and sanitation re10 quirements of the State’s poultry inspec11 tion program are not complied with at a

12 plant to the same degree as the Federal re13 quirements described in subparagraph (A),

14 the Secretary shall reimpose the restriction

15 against the interstate distribution of poul16 try and poultry products produced at the

17 plant until a subsequent inspection verifies

18 that the inspection, reinspection, and sani19 tation requirements of the State’s poultry

20 inspection program are complied with at

21 the plant to the same degree as the Fed22 eral requirements described in subpara23 graph (A).’’.
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1 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act take

3 effect on December 1, 1997.

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