On the other hand....

In this Chicago Tribune article - Bill would reduce meat inspections, the previously mentioned (see my last post) Minnesota Representative Colin Peterson has added a mesure the the 2007 farm bill that would allow interstate shipment of state inspected meat. While at first glance this seems to be a counterintuitive proposition, if we dig a little deeper we see that this proposal could greatly benefit consumers and small, local and independant farmers and meat processors.

This measure would make market access much easyer for small regional processing facilities serving farmers who market their own meat product from their farms. Also consider the current federal inspection system is over worked and under staffed. Allowing states to assume some of the meat inspection work would allow more facilities to become inspected in turn providing more possibilities for consumers and farmers to process their meat. Federal law already stipulates that state meat inspection regulations must be at least as stringent as federal standards. There are a very limited number of federally inspected processing facilities in this state and the ones that are generally don't deal with individual producers.

This measure could provide genuine rural economic development opportunities across the state of Minnesota as well as the nation. Minnesota State meat inspection program has information further explaining the complex arrray of laws, and the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture has published a document - Marketing Loical Food, targeted to Minnesota farmers involved in direct marketing.

Many kudos to Representative Peterson for at least addressing this long neglected issue in the 2007 farm bill!