II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1620 

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to exempt from inspection the 

slaughter of animals and the preparation of carcasses conducted at 

a custom slaughter facility, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Mr. KING (for himself, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. ALEXANDER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to exempt from 

inspection the slaughter of animals and the preparation 

of carcasses conducted at a custom slaughter facility, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Processing Revival and 

5 Intrastate Meat Exemption Act’’ or the ‘‘PRIME Act’’. 


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•S 1620 IS

1 SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FOR SLAUGHTER AND PREPARATION 

2 OCCURRING AT CUSTOM SLAUGHTER FACILI3 TIES. 

4 Section 23 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 

5 U.S.C. 623) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and 

7 (d) as subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively; 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(b) EXEMPTION FOR SLAUGHTER AND PREPARA11 TION OCCURRING AT CUSTOM SLAUGHTER FACILITIES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF STATE.—In this sub13 section, the term ‘State’ means any State or Terri14 tory. 

15 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION.—The provisions of this title 

16 requiring inspection of the slaughter of animals and 

17 the preparation of the carcasses, parts thereof, meat, 

18 and meat food products at establishments con19 ducting those operations for commerce shall not 

20 apply to the slaughtering by any person of animals 

21 at a custom slaughter facility and the preparation at 

22 that custom slaughter facility and transportation in 

23 commerce of the carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and 

24 meat food products of those animals if— 

25 ‘‘(A) the slaughtering and preparation car26 ried out at the custom slaughter facility is carVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1620.IS S1620

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1 ried out in accordance with the law of the State 

2 in which the custom slaughter facility is lo3 cated; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the animals are slaughtered and the 

5 carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food 

6 products of the animals are prepared exclusively 

7 for distribution to— 

8 ‘‘(i) household consumers within the 

9 State in which the custom slaughter facil10 ity is located; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) restaurants, hotels, boarding 

12 houses, grocery stores, or other establish13 ments located in the State in which the 

14 custom slaughter facility is located that— 

15 ‘‘(I) are involved in the prepara16 tion of meals served directly to con17 sumers; or 

18 ‘‘(II) offer meat and meat food 

19 products for sale directly to con20 sumers in the State.’’; and 

21 (3) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), in the 

22 second sentence, by striking ‘‘paragraph (b)’’ and in23 serting ‘‘subsection’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. NO PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW. 

2 Nothing in an amendment made by section 2 pre3 empts any State law relating to— 

4 (1) the slaughter of animals or the preparation 

5 of carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food 

6 products at a custom slaughter facility; or 

7 (2) the sale of meat or meat food products. 

Æ 


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