South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds says optimism is growing for passage of his New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act. That comes after Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney introduced companion legislation in the House this week. Rounds says his bill would allow state inspected meat that is equivalent to federally inspected product to be sold across state lines.
He says the measure would help address current production issues, especially as the nation’s major meat processing facilities work to get running at full capacity.
Senator Rounds has offered this bill before and so have others a few decades ago. However, he thinks with the recent crisis in the nation’s meat processing industry tied to COVID-19 the legislation has better odds of passing in Congress.
He says currently 27 states have state inspection equivalency with federal rules but cannot sell across state lines. So, the change is needed to help them compete and also aid with national food security.
