Meat inspection change(s)

Here’s an e-mail I received pointing out new use of state inspections to qualify meat products for interstate sales …. just as USDA inspections do already.

New Agreement Allows Meat Shipments Across State Lines
Wisconsin Ag Connection – 06/18/2013

A Sauk County meat company is the first state-inspected processing plant to start shipping products to out-of-state markets. During a public ceremony at Wyttenbach Meats, LLC in Prairie du Sac on Monday, Governor Scott Walker and other state officials commemorated a new program which gives the Division of Food Safety the authority to inspect meat products produced in selected establishments using regulatory oversight and sampling programs that are the same as those in the federal inspection program.

“Wisconsin’s participation in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program is another step toward eliminating barriers for small business growth,” Governor Walker said. “This agreement will enable Wisconsin’s many high-quality meat processors to expand their customer bases and get their products to new markets while continuing a well-established state-industry partnership for food safety, without making expensive changes to their facilities.”

Qualifying meat processors are now allowed to ship across state lines under a new agreement between the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food Safety and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wisconsin is one of three states in the nation to sign a cooperative agreement under new USDA rules that were finalized in 2011.

“Until now, if you were inspected by DATCP meat safety inspectors and not the USDA, your product could only be sold in Wisconsin,” said State Agriculture Secretary Ben Brancel. “But now, after meeting USDA-DATCP guidelines and making minor changes in the production and labeling process, certain state-inspected businesses will be permitted to distribute their products out-of-state without being inspected by the USDA.”

Wisconsin’s meat inspection program has equaled the standards of the federal program for the past 44 years. The state currently has 272 state-inspected meat plants and many have expressed interest in the interstate meat shipment program. Several plants have already started the pre-inspection, label-changing process.

Brancel says Wisconsin’s participation is a demonstration of the goal to foster an environment in which government partners with employers, particularly small businesses, in creating jobs and moving the economy forward.

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Jeff Schahczenski
Agriculture Policy and Funding Research Director

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