Joining House Republicans, several senators have sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, asking the USDA to examine regulations that create “impediments to a diversified meat processing industry.”
Citing the “oligopolistic market structure” of the Big Four processing companies, the letter signed by Sens. Kevin Kramer (R-ND), Ron Wyden (D-OR), John Barrasso, (R-WY) Doug Jones (D-AL), Michael Enzi (R-WY), John Hoeven (R-ND), and Steve Daines (R-MT) echoed the sentiments of a letter sent earlier in June by House of Representatives members.
The senators asked Perdue to consider the impediments after President Donald Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 13924, Providing Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery, by issuing proposed rules as necessary.
“When high capacity processing facilities experienced outbreaks amongst employees, operations were forced to shut off or slow down production, leaving the rancher with livestock they could not move and the consumer with either empty grocery shelves or overpriced products,” the senators wrote.
EO 13924 directs agencies to address economic recovery post-COVID-19 by “rescinding, modifying, waiving, or providing exemptions from regulations and other requirements that may inhibit economic recovery, consistent with applicable law and with the protection of the public health and safety.”
The EO gives small businesses the guidance on what the law allows and gives guidance to comply with “often-complex regulations in complicated and swiftly changing circumstances; and by committing to fairness in administrative enforcement and adjudication.”
Senators also asked Perdue to “consider four areas for regulatory and programmatic reform” addressed by the House letter.
“These pitfalls can be avoided in the future if we take action today to promote a diversified food supply chain,” the letter read. “Regulations must be streamlined to remove barriers impeding small and medium-sized meat processors. EO 13924 is an appropriate venue to address these problems, and we encourage you to do so.”
Letter by Jordan, colleagues
The letter sent by members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, called on USDA to ease restrictions on small and mid-sized meat processing operations.
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH-4), F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI-5), Ken Buck (R-CO-4), Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND-At large) and W. Gregory Steube (R-FL-17) sent the letter to Perdue, citing Trump’s EO 13924 and asked to reduce “regulatory burdens” which will increase competition and “strengthen a crucial industry at an important time.”
“Although over half the states operate state inspection programs, those state programs must enforce requirements at least equal to relevant federal laws. This means that federal standards functionally impose costs on smaller processors preparing meat for only intrastate sales,” the letter read.
“Accordingly, some ranchers and livestock farmers that raise product for local consumption must still have [the] meat processed consistent with costly requirements that apply to the largest processors.”
Citing “meat processing laws have made it hard for smaller processors to compete and has led to significant consolidation in the industry,” they encourage Perdue to consider four areas of “regulatory and programmatic reforms.”
Those areas are hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plans, a meat label submission and approval process, a cooperative interstate shipment (CIS) program, and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) overtime requirements.
HACCP Plans
• USDA requires meat processors to “develop, validate, update, maintain records” regarding their HACCP plans and to change them when production changes periodically. The letter is asking the USDA to allow more flexibility for small processors to comply with HAACP regulations.
Meat label approval process
• The letter asks the USDA to make labeling less confusing and costly and give “clearer guidance to new meat processors, and to existing meat processors that are expanding their operations and products.”
CIS program
• USDA’s CIS program allows exceptions that grant meat processors the ability to sell out of state. Currently, only seven states participate in the CIS program. The letter said USDA should consider ways to “reduce the regulatory burdens associated with the CIS program and should encourage more states and small processors to participate.”
FSIS overtime requirements
• USDA’s FSIS pays for and provides inspectors during regular working hours, but the processors must pay for overtime. The letter asks for USDA to increase the flexibility so processors won’t have to adjust operations resulting in added expense for small processors that need inspectors beyond normal hours.
“Appropriate regulatory reform in these and other areas will lower barriers to entry and expansion that smaller meat processors face,” the letter stated. “Such reform will enhance competition far more than denouncing consolidation—and the large processors—in an industry that federal law has shaped for decades.
“Taking action now will benefit smaller processors, help the ranchers and livestock farmers they serve and strengthen a crucial part of the nation’s food supply chain.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ correspondent
