To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to publish criteria for the review of requests by certain meat or poultry establishments to operate at alternate inspection rates, to review and respond to such requests, and for other purposes. 2023-08-01 Introduced in House This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to publish food safety criteria, and review requests, for meat and poultry establishments to operate at alternate inspection rates. (Under the bill, alternate inspection rates are any rates in excess of the maximum rates permissible under regulations implementing the post-mortem inspection requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act.)

The bill requires USDA to approve or deny a request to operate at alternate inspection rates within 90 days of submission. If USDA fails to respond within 90 days, the establishment’s request shall be deemed approved by USDA.

Once USDA approves a request, an establishment may continue to operate pursuant to the terms of the request (i.e., the approval does not expire).

The bill establishes written notice requirements and a timeline for USDA to revoke an establishment's authority to operate at alternate inspection rates. As part of the revocation timeline, USDA must consult with the establishment to minimize the negative impacts of adjusting the inspection rates.

Further, USDA must authorize establishments currently operating under alternate inspection rates (e.g., under a USDA pilot program) to continue operating at such rates (1) so long as the establishment maintains effective process control, or (2) until USDA approves or denies a submitted request to operate at alternate inspection rates.

]]> text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.