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Senate committee advances bill to align state meat inspection rules with current federal regulations
Summary
Department staff asked the committee to adopt the most recent federal meat inspection regulations; the committee approved a do-pass recommendation for House Bill 1085 to keep North Dakota’s program ‘equal to’ USDA rules.
Todd Erickson, meat inspection manager at the Department of Agriculture, asked the committee to adopt current federal meat and poultry inspection regulations through House Bill 1085. Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, states may operate their own meat inspection programs if their laws and regulations are “at least equal to” USDA requirements; HB1085 updates state statute to reflect recent federal rule changes.
Erickson said the updates include an appeals process for facilities adversely affected by a USDA inspection decision (30 days to appeal) and changes to some poultry sampling parameters. The Department of Agriculture does not currently operate official poultry slaughter facilities, so the poultry-sampling changes do not apply to active state-regulated plants in North Dakota today, Erickson said.
The committee recorded a do-pass recommendation for HB1085 on roll-call vote and will advance the measure for consideration by the full Senate.
Ending: The measure was advanced with a do-pass recommendation; the department said the statutory change will preserve the state’s ability to maintain an equal-to USDA inspection program.
