SUPPORT: H.R. 8467 – The Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024, Section 12114. Pilot Program to Support Custom Slaughter Establishments
Current law prohibits the sale of custom slaughtered and/or processed meat, only allowing its use “in the household of…[the] owner, by him and members of his household, and his non-paying guests and employees….” (21 USC 623)
The pilot program in Section 12114 of the House Farm Bill would start the process of changing that. Section 12114 gives states the option of administering their own pilot program; for the first two years of the five-year pilot program, a state program could approve up to five facilities to participate. The pilot program would allow the intrastate sale of custom meat and meat food products from the custom facility that did the processing (the facility could be custom only, not a mix of custom and a federal- or state-inspected facility) or by the owner whose animal was processed.
If there is no finding that any of the approved custom facilities has produced adulterated food, after two years the state department of agriculture can approve another five facilities for the remainder of the program. The pilot program sunsets on September 30, 2029. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture may approve up to 20 facilities to participate in the pilot program that are located in those states are not administering their own. The laws governing the pilot program are mostly similar to what the custom facilities have to be in compliance with now.
Once the pilot program sunsets the next step is for Congress to adopt some form of custom sales of meat as permanent law beginning the process of rolling back the disastrous Wholesome Meat Act of 1967, the legislation which created federal jurisdiction over intrastate meat commerce. Lack of slaughterhouse access and the expense of getting animals processed at federally or state inspected facilities are problems allowing the sale of custom meat would improve.
