Georgia has joined South Dakota, North Dakota and eight other states in participating in a federal program that promotes the expansion of business opportunities for state-inspected meat processors.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) agreement provides an opportunity for participating state-inspected meat processors to ship their products across state lines under the USDA mark of inspection.
The CIS program is limited to states that have established a State Meat and Poultry Inspection program– or State MPI program. To be eligible, a State MPI program must demonstrate that the inspection it provides to participating state-inspected establishments is the same as the inspection USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) provides at official federal establishments.
For instance, a state must have the legal authority to administer and enforce requirements that are the same as the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and applicable regulations. The state must also collect regulatory samples at the same frequency as federal inspectors and use the same analytical methods at laboratories meeting the same level of accreditation as FSIS laboratories.
FSIS provides ongoing oversight of the CIS program and reimburses states for 60% of the costs associated with providing this inspection service. In addition to South Dakota, North Dakota and Georgia, USDA has signed CIS agreements with Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said American ranchers have had to deal with “a consolidated processing industry that has 4 companies, including 2 foreign owned, dominating 85% of the market.” The CIS program was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill and launched in 2012.
For more information about CIS, visit www.fsis.usda.gov/cis.
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