Senator Marshall Reintroduces DIRECT Act
Washington – On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), reintroduced The Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act, legislation that would give livestock and poultry producers greater access to consumers nationwide.
The DIRECT Act would create a narrow exemption to allow small producers and butchers greater flexibility for interstate sales without compromising food safety or jeopardizing market access in international trade.
“The last thing our livestock producers need is more red tape,” said Senator Marshall. “Like many states, Kansas has strong meat inspection standards that already meet federal requirements. By creating a simple exemption, the DIRECT Act uplifts our ranchers by empowering them to sell their high-quality beef in innovative ways and across state lines.”
The bill is cosponsored by Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi).
“Ever since the Biden Administration, Alabama’s farmers and livestock producers have been struggling to survive. Cutting red tape and providing our cattle and livestock producers with additional avenues to sell their Made in the US products is a win,” said Senator Tuberville. “We must ensure we are putting American farmers and livestock producers first, not last. I’m proud to join Senator Marshall in this legislation to support our family farms, small meat producers, and provide consumers easy access to all-American meat.”
“As we look at markets now and into the future, we should explore every opportunity to help family farms and ranches succeed. The DIRECT Act does just that. It would give meat and poultry producers a safe, straightforward way to sell to consumers directly by making federal regulations work for them, not against them,” Senator Hyde-Smith said.
Background:
- Many states, such as Vermont and Kansas, have State Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programs approved as at least equivalent to the standards established under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) and Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA). These programs are overseen through audits by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to ensure there are no food safety concerns.
- State inspection is often less expensive and preferable to very small processors.
- MPI programs require food safety plans (HACCP) and, similar to federally inspected processors, have inspectors on-site.
- The DIRECT Act:
- Would amend the retail exemption under the FMIA and PPIA to allow processors, butchers, or other retailers to sell normal retail quantities (300 lbs. of beef, 100 lbs. of pork, 27.5 lbs. of lamb) of MPI State Inspected Meat online to consumers across state lines.
- Allow new direct-to-consumer options for producers, processors, and small meat markets.
- Allows retail sales to consumers, minimizing the risk for further processing in export, keeping our equivalency agreements with trading partners intact.
- Allow states operating under the CIS system to ship and label as they are currently.
- Would prohibit the export of the MPI product.
- Would NOT allow custom exempt processors to ship meat in interstate commerce.
Full text of the bill is available at https://www.marshall.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BILLS-119s3099is.pdf