I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2581
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products
Inspection Act to ensure the safety of imported meat and poultry products.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 21, 1999
Mrs. MEEK of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry
Products Inspection Act to ensure the safety of imported
meat and poultry products.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring the Safety
of Imported Meat and Poultry Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Prior to 1994 the Federal Meat Inspection
Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act re-
quired that imported meat and poultry be subject to
the same safety standards as domestically produced
meat and poultry.
(2) Article 4 of the World Trade Organization’s
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures (‘‘SPS Agreement’’)—which
was negotiated as part of the Uruguay Round of
Trade Agreements—requires that a country permit
imports of food if the country determines that the
foreign inspection system provides a level of safety
equivalent to the country’s domestic standards.
(3) Congress, when it ratified the SPS Agree-
ment in 1994, amended the Federal Meat Inspection
Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to pro-
vide that foreign meat and poultry may be imported
into this country if the Secretary of Agriculture de-
termines that the foreign inspection system provides
a level of protection equivalent to that achieved
under United States requirements.
(4) The Secretary of Agriculture then deter-
mined that those countries which had been per-
mitted to export meat and poultry to the United
States prior to 1994 had an equivalent inspection
system because prior to 1994 their inspection system
was the same as that used in the United States.
(5) In July 1996 the United States Department
of Agriculture issued its final regulations for a new
system of meat and poultry inspection called the
Hazard 
Analysis 
and 
Critical 
Control 
Point
(‘‘HACCP’’) program. This new program was de-
signed to improve the safety of meat and poultry
and for domestic plants was implemented in phases:
on January 27, 1997, all domestic meat and poultry
slaughter and process plants had to have in place
standard operating procedures for sanitation, and
the slaughter plants had to begin testing for generic
E. coli; beginning January 26, 1998, domestic meat
and poultry plants employing at least 500 persons
had to establish the entire HACCP system and meet
performance standards for salmonella, with govern-
ment inspectors taking samples and those samples
being analyzed for salmonella in government labora-
tories, beginning January 25, 1999, small domestic
plants had to implement the rest of the HACCP sys-
tem.
(6) In the summer of 1996 the Department of
Agriculture asked foreign governments to supply suf-
ficient information so that it could determine wheth-
er their inspection system is equivalent to the new
HACCP requirements.
(7) In 1999 the Department of Agriculture is
continuing to allow imports of meat and poultry
from 32 countries even though it has admitted it
does not yet have enough information from any of
these foreign countries to determine whether its in-
spection system is actually equivalent to the new
HACCP salmonella testing requirements that large
domestic plants have had to comply with since Janu-
ary 26, 1998, and small plants have had to comply
with since January 25, 1999.
(8) The Department of Agriculture publishes a
quarterly report, which it puts on its website, which
lists all the domestic plants that are not in compli-
ance with the HACCP program; however, the De-
partment of Agriculture does not publicly reveal any
foreign firm that it believes is not in compliance
even though the Department of Agriculture officials
conduct audits of foreign meat and poultry plants.
(9) At the United States border the Depart-
ment of Agriculture takes a ‘‘random’’ sample of
about 20 percent of all foreign meat and poultry,
and its public quarterly report shows the amount of
imported meat and poultry refused entry at the
United States border by the Department’s inspec-
tors. The public report does not, however, give the
rejection rate by country of origin.
(10) United States consumers have a right to
be informed about the safety of imported meat and
poultry from specific countries.
SEC. 3. END OF GRACE PERIOD FOR IMPORTED MEAT AND
POULTRY.
(a) FEDERAL MEAT INSPECTION ACT.—Section 20
of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 620) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(i)(1) The Secretary shall ban all imports of car-
casses of meat or meat products from any country for
which the Secretary has not yet determined, based on in-
formation supplied by the exporting country, that the for-
eign inspection system actually provides at least the same
level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection achieved
under United States requirements with regard to all in-
spection, building construction standards, and all other
provisions of this Act and regulations issued under this
Act (including the requirement that salmonella samples be
taken by government officials and analyzed in government
laboratories). This ban shall take effect within 6 months
of passage of this Act for those standards and regulations
in effect on the date of passage of this Act and within
1 year for those standards and regulations issued after
passage of this Act.
‘‘(2) The Secretary may extend once for a period not
to exceed 1 year the date upon which the ban in paragraph
(1) shall take effect if the Secretary determines that this
extension poses no risk to the health of the public. The
Secretary shall transmit to Congress and publish in the
Federal Register at least 60 days prior to the Secretary’s
final decision all reasons for the Secretary’s proposed deci-
sion to extend the date. The Secretary shall not make a
final decision on this extension without taking into ac-
count the comments received.’’.
(b) POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION ACT.—Section
17 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C.
466) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary shall ban all imports of poultry
or parts or products of poultry from any country for which
the Secretary has not yet determined, based on informa-
tion supplied by the exporting country, that the foreign
inspection system actually provides at least the same level
of sanitary or phytosanitary protection achieved under
United States requirements with regard to all inspection,
building construction standards, and all other provisions
of this Act and regulations issued under this Act (includ-
ing the requirement that salmonella samples be taken by
government officials and inspected in government labora-
tories). This ban shall take effect within 6 months of pas-
sage of this Act for those standards and regulations in
effect on the date of passage of this Act and within 1 year
for those standards and regulations issued after passage
of this Act.
‘‘(2) The Secretary may extend once for a period not
to exceed 1 year the date upon which the ban in paragraph
(1) shall take effect if the Secretary determines that this
extension poses no risk to the health of the public. The
Secretary shall transmit to Congress and publish in the
Federal Register at least 60 days prior to the Secretary’s
final decision all reasons for the Secretary’s proposed deci-
sion to extend the date. The Secretary shall not make a
final decision on this extension without taking into ac-
count the comments received.’’.
SEC. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DECISIONS ON EQUIVA-
LENCY.
In any determination by the Secretary of Agri-
culture—whether or not it is promulgated as a rule—
under either section 20 of the Federal Meat Inspection
Act (21 U.S.C. 620) or section 17 of the Poultry Products
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 466) on whether an inspection
system of any foreign country actually provides at least
the same level of sanitary or phytosanitary protection
achieved under United States requirements with regard to
all inspection, building construction standards, and regu-
lations issued by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Sec-
retary shall, at least 90 days before the Secretary’s final
determination—
(1) publish a notice in the Federal Register
that identifies the basis for that proposed determina-
tion; and
(2) make available for public inspection the en-
tire justification provided by the foreign government
to the Secretary (translated into English if not origi-
nally in English), along with the scientific analysis
of that information that was conducted by the Sec-
retary.
The Secretary shall provide opportunity for the public to
comment on the proposed determination and shall not
issue a final determination without taking into account the
comments received.
SEC. 5. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON SAFETY
OF IMPORTED MEAT AND POULTRY.
Every 3 months the Secretary of Agriculture shall
publish in the Federal Register—
(1) the name and location of any plant export-
ing meat or poultry to the United States that the
Secretary believes is not in complete compliance with
a foreign inspection system that the Secretary has
determined 
provides 
a 
level 
of 
sanitary 
or
phytosanitary protection at least equal to that pro-
vided in the United States; and
(2) the rejection rate by country of origin of
foreign meat and poultry inspected by the Secretary
at the United States border.
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