Published 9:45 am Monday, January 4, 2021
The top-ranking Republican on the Washington Senate agriculture committee has reintroduced the apparently popular but so far unfunded idea of the state inspecting meat and poultry.
State inspections would complement USDA inspections, helping small producers reach retail markets and allowing meat to be labeled “Washington inspected and approved.”
“It would give consumers a better idea of where the meat was raised,” said Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake.
The USDA monopolizes inspections under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. But with USDA oversight, states can have their own inspectors.
Senate Bill 5045, introduced by Warnick, would direct the state Department of Agriculture to negotiate with the USDA to create a state program.
The department already licenses more than 100 custom-meat processors. But those businesses can only process meat for the owners of the animal.
State inspections would allow small producers to sell meat without first selling a share of the animal to the consumer.
Some 27 states have meat inspection programs, with the USDA paying half the cost. Oregon lawmakers last spring voted to have state inspectors. The state Department of Agriculture hopes to have a program formed by mid-2024.
Washington lawmakers also considered creating a meat inspection program last year. The state agriculture projected that inspecting custom-meat operations would cost $1.8 million a year.
The bill was scaled back, directing the agriculture department to help producers market meat and to negotiate an agreement with USDA. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and advanced through House committees without opposition.
The proposal stalled at the end, though. The bill still cost $245,400 a year and didn’t make the budget.
Warnick said she hoped a bill could be written to cost halfway between $1.8 million and $245,400.
“We’re hoping to get it done because it would open up an opportunity for a number of facilities,” she said.
