Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food, Leonard Blackham today offered praise for legislation introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch that would allow state-inspected beef to be shipped nationally. Sen. Hatch’s bill would overturn a nearly 30-year ban on interstate shipments of state-inspected meat. The action would allow Utah’s ranchers to compete more evenly with national and international meat producers.

“Locally grown, processed and inspected beef is as good as federally inspected products,” said Commissioner Blackham. I urge others in Congress to also support Sen. Hatch’s legislation.”
Many other food items such as milk, fruit, vegetables, and fish are freely shipped across state lines after being inspected by state programs. Yet certain meat products are prohibited from being sold in interstate commerce, despite decades of meeting or surpassing the federal inspection standards. Hatch’s bill would remove this prohibition.

“This ban hurts Utah’s ranchers and small business owners, and there’s no reason for it,” Hatch said. “States are getting a bad deal. State inspection programs have proven to be just as effective as Federal programs, yet state-inspected meat can’t be shipped across state lines. It’s high time we update this unnecessary, unjust ban that puts Utah’s small businesses at such a disadvantage.”

Federal law requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to inspect all meat products slaughtered for human consumption, and in the late 1960s Congress created state inspection programs that are mandated to be “at least equal to” the Federal inspection program. Utah has 32 plants authorized to inspect meat, part of nearly 2,000 plants nationwide largely run by small businesses that cater to the needs of small, family-run farms and ranches.

Posted June 22, 2006