Committee asks state agriculture agency to study federal meat-processing exemption; substitute resolution reported favorably

The House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development on April 30 voted without recorded objection to report favorably a substitute resolution—identified during the hearing as HCR 21—urging the U.S. Congress and asking the commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) to study the federal Processing, Revival, and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act and recommend steps to help small meat processors in Louisiana.

The substitute resolution asks the commissioner and LDAF staff to evaluate how the federal proposal and other measures might enhance operations for small and custom meat processors and to report back to the legislature within a year. Representative Owen, who introduced the resolution at the hearing, said the study was prompted by a small meat processor in Vernon Parish who has built a local business in New Llano but faces constraints tied to federal and state inspection rules.

Commissioner Mike Strain (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry) told the committee that federal law gives the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) primacy over amenable species (beef, pork, chicken and similar proteins) under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and that Louisiana operates a mix of federal plants, state‑inspected plants and smaller custom‑exemption…