NCBA
NCBA s Tanner Beymer (left) talked with Rep. Dusty Johnson (right) about his PRICE Act in October 2020. House bill allows state-inspected meat facilities to sell direct to consumer and still provide recall authority.
Jake Feddes, owner of Montana-based Feddes Family Meats, gets 10-15 messages a week asking for his state-inspected small meat processing facility to ship across state lines. Although all of his facility’s standards meet or are greater than USDA standards, he has to turn down the consumers’ request because the Federal Meat Inspection Act currently prohibits smaller processors like himself and others from tapping into out-of-state consumers.
Bill would help entrepreneurs, Congressman says Written By: Marcus Traxler | ×
Rep. Dusty JohnsonPhoto courtesy of Dusty Johnson for Congress.
WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said Thursday that he is re-introducing legislation that would allow state inspected meat to be sold across state lines over the internet.
The Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act would allow entrepreneurs and small businesses to expand their offerings and market directly to consumers, Johnson said. He is co-sponsoring it with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).
Now in the 117th Congress, Johnson sponsored the bill last June but the bill did not receive a vote. He said Thursday that it got a lot of recognition and believes it is the type of legislation that should be able to get passed in a closely divided Congress.
NCBA welcomes House introduction of bipartisan DIRECT Act
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association hailed the introduction of bipartisan legislation to create new opportunities for cattle producers and processors to market beef products. The Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions, or DIRECT Act of 2021, would allow retail quantities of meat processed under state-inspection to be sold across state lines through e-commerce.
NCBA Policy Division Chair Todd Wilkinson says, “The DIRECT Act will allow cattle producers and smaller beef processors to more easily evolve to meet the growing demand for e-commerce sales.”
Many states currently have inspection programs approved by the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service as “at least equal to” federal standards.
WASHINGTON (Jan. 28, 2021) – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) today hailed the introduction of bipartisan legislation to create new opportunities for cattle producers and processors to market beef products.
Introduced by U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R – At-Large, S.D.) and Henry Cuellar (D – 28th Dist., TX), the Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act of 2021 would allow retail quantities of meat processed under state-inspection to be sold across state lines through e-commerce, providing beef producers and local processors alike with more options to market direct-to-consumers.
“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted an urgent need for our industry to expand opportunities for state-inspected meatpackers. NCBA acted quickly last year, advocating to allow more beef to be safely sold online across state lines. The DIRECT Act will allow cattle producers and smaller beef processors to more easily evolve to meet th
-The Hagstrom Report
Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, on Thursday introduced the Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act of 2021, which would allow retail quantities of meat processed under state-inspection to be sold across state lines through e-commerce, providing beef producers and local processors alike with more options to market direct-to-consumers, Johnson said in a news release.
“Today, a few large players have too much control over our meat supply chains. In many states, state meat inspection is every bit as good as federal meat inspection,” said Johnson, a member of the House Agriculture Committee.