I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5172
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspec-
tion Act to provide for the establishment of a Safe Meat and Poultry
Inspection Panel within the United States Department of Agriculture.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 4, 1994
Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. GUNDERSON, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr. AL-
LARD, and Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska) 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 provide for the establishment
of a Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel within
the United States Department of Agriculture.
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 ‘‘Safe Meat and Poultry
Inspection Panel Act’’.
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF SAFE MEAT AND POULTRY IN-
SPECTION PANEL.
The Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the follow-
ing new section:
‘‘SEC. 
. SAFE MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION
PANEL.—‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby estab-
lished in the Department of Agriculture a permanent advi-
sory panel known as the ‘‘Safe Meat and Poultry Inspec-
tion Panel’’.
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The Safe Meat and Poultry Inspec-
tion Panel shall review, evaluate, and make comments and
recommendations in the form of a report to the Secretary
on the adequacy, necessity, safety, cost-effectiveness, and
scientific merit of the following:
(1) Inspection procedures of, and work rules
and worker relations involving Federal employees
employed in, plants inspected under this Act.
(2) Informal petitions or proposals for changes
in inspection procedures, processes, and techniques
of plants inspected under this Act.
(3) Formal changes in meat inspection regula-
tions, either in notice, proposed, or final form, pro-
mulgated by virtue of authority granted by this Act
and within the time limits prescribed for formal
comments on such changes.
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(4) Such other matters as may be referred to
the panel by the Secretary regarding the quality or
effectiveness of a safe and cost-effective meat inspec-
tion system under this Act.
‘‘(c) COMPOSITION OF PANEL.—The Safe Meat and
Poultry Inspection Panel shall be composed of 7 members,
not less than 5 of which members shall be from the food,
meat, and poultry science profession, appointed to stag-
gered terms not to exceed three years by the Secretary
from nominations received from the National Institutes of
Health and the American Meat Science Association and
based upon the professional qualifications of the nominees.
‘‘(d) NOMINATIONS.—In constituting the original
Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel, the Secretary
shall initially solicit 6 nominees from the National Insti-
tutes of Health and 6 nominees from the American Meat
Science Association for membership on the panel. Any
subsequent vacancy on the panel shall be filled by the Sec-
retary after soliciting 2 nominees from the National Insti-
tutes of Health and 2 nominees from the American Meat
Science Association. Nominees shall have a background in
public health issues and a scientific expertise in food,
meat, and poultry sciences or in veterinary science. The
Secretary may require nominees to submit such additional
information as the Secretary may deem necessary prior
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to completing the selection process. Should any list of
nominees provided under this subsection be unsatisfactory,
the Secretary may request an additional set of nominees
from the nominating entities.
‘‘(e) COMPENSATION.—Each member of the panel
shall receive per diem compensation at a rate not in excess
of that fixed for GS–18 of the General Schedule as may
be determined by the Secretary, except that any such
member who holds another office or position under the
Federal Government the compensation of which exceeds
such rate may elect to receive compensation at the rate
provided for such other office or position in lieu of the
compensation provided by this subsection.
‘‘(f) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—The Secretary shall
promulgate regulations regarding conflicts of interest with
respect to the members of the panel.
‘‘(g) PUBLICATION IN FEDERAL REGISTER.—Any re-
port of the panel to the Secretary shall be published in
the Federal Register.
‘‘(h) SECRETARIAL RESPONSE.—Within 90 days of
the publication of a panel report under this section, the
Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register any re-
sponse required of the Secretary to that report.
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‘‘(i) FUNDING.—From funds available to the Sec-
retary, the Secretary shall allocate such sums as may be
necessary to carry out this section.’’.
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.
The Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol-
lowing new section:
‘‘SEC.
. SAFE MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION
PANEL.—The advisory panel known as the ‘Safe Meat and
Poultry Inspection Panel’ established in section 
of the
Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 
) shall also
review, evaluate and make comments and recommenda-
tions in the form of a report to the Secretary on the ade-
quacy, necessity, safety, cost-effectiveness, and scientific
merit of the following:
(1) Inspection procedures of, and work rules
and worker relations involving Federal employees
employed in, plants inspected under this Act.
(2) Informal petitions or proposals for changes
in inspection procedures, processes, or techniques of
plants inspected under this Act.
(3) Formal changes in poultry inspection regu-
lations, either in notice, proposed, or final form, pro-
mulgated by virtue of authority granted by this Act