Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., along with Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) and Sen. Angus King (I), both of Maine, have reintroduced the Processing Revival and Interstate Meat Exemption Act—or PRIME Act—to empower the states to determine appropriate regulations for meat processing within their borders.
The legislation (HR 2859 / S 1820) has been referred to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees. As of this writing, there had been little if any floor action. The bipartisan bill concerns a topic that fosters party unity, rather than division. Three Democrats joined nine Republicans, including Michigan’s Justin Amash (R), to support it on the House side.
“The PRIME Act,” a Weston A. Price Foundation press release explained, “would give states the option of passing laws to allow the sale of custom-slaughtered and processed meat in intrastate commerce direct to the consumer and to venues such as restaurants, hotels, grocery stores …”
However, federal law currently prohibits the general sale of custom-processed meat. Custom-facility meat can only go to those who own the animal at slaughter time—which causes small farmers to lose substantial business. Many potential customers cannot afford to buy a whole animal, or they lack the freezer space to store the meat.
The Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 gave the federal government invasive jurisdiction over meat processing and sales in intrastate commerce — within individual states, not just between the states.
When the Act was passed, there were nearly 10,000 slaughterhouses in the US but as of Jan. 1, 2019, there were 2,766. Farmers wanting to sell meat “by the cut” by law can only use the slaughterhouses that have on-site government inspectors during the slaughtering process. Thus, small meat producers often must haul their livestock to distant facilities—driving up production costs while stressing out the animals. Sometimes the farmer must book a slaughterhouse a year in advance.
And with only four companies controlling more than 80% of US beef processing—combined with the shrinking number of inspected slaughterhouses and the above-noted mandates placed upon small producers—the remaining slaughterhouses are reportedly stretched to capacity. The meat industry in recent years has had more than 100 recalls per year, involving more than 20 million pounds of meat and poultry products.
Custom slaughterhouses typically are small facilities where relatively few animals are slaughtered daily. However, the USDA plants slaughter 300-400 cattle per hour. And even without an inspector on-site, the custom houses have a much better food-safety record.
Because small farmers urgently need greater access to slaughterhouses to be able to compete on a more level playing field against large agribusinesses, the PRIME Act’s advocates feel the bill is vitally important. Small local American farmers could be meeting the growing demand for healthier grass-fed beef, but they’re missing out on much of that business as imported grass-fed beef gains dominant market share.
Rep. Massie remarked: “Consumers want to know where their food comes from, what it contains, and how it’s processed,” while adding that federal inspection requirements serve as an obstacle, a kind of internal tariff, against purchasing food in the general marketplace from trusted local farmers.
“It is time to open our markets to give producers the freedom to succeed and consumers the freedom to choose,” Massie summarized.
But here’s what no one talks about: Globalist free-traders want open markets and low regulations between nations and shriek at the mere mention of the word “tariff,” but they’re fine with internal regulations and domestic “tariffs” that add major costs and limit markets, especially for small farmers.
Thus, the globalists’ unspoken mantra is free trade between nations, but not within nations. They treat the 50 states like separate nations, but treat the real nations like members of a super-large federation whose borders are mere doodles on a map.
Mark Anderson is a veteran journalist who divides his time between Texas and Michigan. Email him at truthhound2@yahoo.com.
From The Progressive Populist, August 1, 2019
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