WASHINGTON — Under current law, American farmers can’t sell individual cuts of beef to customers unless the meat has been processed at USDA-inspected slaughterhouses.
President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday: “for years I have heard that they have had a tremendous problem with the Big Processors … I am authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow Farmers and Ranchers to be given the right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD.”
Earlier this week, conservative radio host Glenn Beck, who runs a ranch, raised concerns about the regulations in a phone interview with the president.
“There’s people that want to build processing plants everywhere,” Beck said. “The regulations are killing us, just killing us.”
“So you’re saying with less regulation, you think that the ranchers and farmers would do a very good job of processing the beef?” Trump asked.
When Beck replied that they would, Trump told him he would look at the issue.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Crescent Springs, who raises cattle on his Lewis County farm, has been pushing a measure called the PRIME Act.
Under his bill, states could allow farmers to sell cuts of beef that haven’t been processed at federally-inspected facilities.
Instead, local inspectors could examine the meat products.
The legislation hasn’t moved forward as a standalone bill, but a pilot program for it is in a version of the Farm Bill passed by the House.
In response to the president’s announcement Friday, Massie wrote on social media: “This is great, but it should be a law, not just an executive order … Pass the PRIME Act so consumers can get affordable U.S. beef and farmers can flourish!”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said in a social media statement that it supports more competiton and opportunities for small processors but “weakening federal meat inspection & food safety standards isn’t the answer.”
Trump recently prompted bipartisan backlash after announcing a plan to import 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to reduce prices.
Massie called that a “slap in the face to American cattlemen & consumers.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Spectrum News Tuesday that the president believes it is a short-term fix necessary to get lower cost beef on American plates.