WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have introduced bipartisan legislation to make it easier for small farms and ranches to provide locally produced meats to consumers. As beef prices in the United States hit record highs, the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act would give individual states the freedom to permit intrastate distribution of custom-slaughtered meat such as beef, pork, goat or lamb to consumers, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses and grocery stores. Custom-slaughter facilities are annually inspected facilities — Maine’s state standards are “at least equal to” federal government standards — that process safe, and clean meat from small farms for private consumption, but are not currently allowed to make public sales.

“Maine farmers should not face redundant barriers when it comes to meeting increased demand for fresh, locally produced meats,” said Senator King. “The PRIME Act would put a stop to unnecessary federal regulations by empowering states to regulate the processing and local sale of meat. This bipartisan legislation is a solid step toward restoring a measure of commonsense to the process, supporting Maine’s farmers and bolstering the local foods movement, all while protecting consumer safety. If Maine or Kentucky wants to let a farm sell fresh, tested, safe meat in their communities using a custom slaughterhouse and proven methods, the federal government doesn’t need to get involved.”

Under current law, farmers and ranchers must have their animals processed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified facility to sell their product commercially. However, many states such as Maine have a limited amount of USDA-approved processing facilities, which are often at capacity. This makes it expensive and time-consuming for farmers to transport their animals, sometimes across the state or even out of state when they intend to sell the meat to their neighbors. The PRIME Act would give states the authority to allow meat from custom-slaughter facilities to be sold for general consumption. This would help relieve the significant shortage of processing capacity and allow small farms, ranches, and slaughterhouses to significantly increase sales.

In addition to Senators King and Paul, cosponsors include Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND) and Mike Lee (R-UT). Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

Senator King is a staunch advocate for the Maine agriculture industry. Earlier this year, Senator King cosponsored the Honor Farmer Contracts Act which released withheld federal funding and allocated it back to farmers as Congress had intended. He is an original sponsor of the bipartisan Dairy PRIDE Act which combats the mislabeling of non-dairy products and requires accurate labeling of dairy and non-dairy products as mislabeling is harmful to dairy farmers selling their products in a crowded marketplace. Senator King also cosponsored the Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act to direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give milk producers a greater voice in dairy pricing. Additionally, Senator King is an annual cosponsor of the federal ‘National Dairy Month’ resolution. Earlier this year, he introduced the bipartisan Innovative Feed Enhance and Economic Development (FEED) Act to help cut red tape in the livestock feed sector.

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