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To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to allow interstate shipment of meat and meat food products inspected and passed under qualifying State programs.
Summary
This bill would amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to allow meat and meat products inspected under state inspection programs to be shipped and sold across state lines, rather than being limited to in-state sales. The meat would be eligible for interstate commerce if the state's inspection program has been determined by the Department of Agriculture to meet federal standards, the meat meets all state requirements, and the product is labeled as state-inspected. States whose inspection programs qualify would need to agree to periodic audits by the Department of Agriculture. The bill's stated purpose is to expand market access for small and mid-sized ranchers and increase competition in meat processing while maintaining food safety standards. The Department of Agriculture would have 90 days after enactment to issue implementing regulations.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Burchett, Tim [R-TN-2] (R-TN)
Actions (2)
- Mar 5, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Mar 5, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 5, 2026
Mr. Burchett introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to allow interstate shipment of meat and meat food products inspected and passed under qualifying State programs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “American Meat Freedom Act”.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) State meat inspection programs are authorized under section 301 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 661) if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that such programs impose requirements “at least equal to” those imposed under Federal inspection.
(2) Ranchers and small-scale meat producers operating under compliant State inspection programs are currently limited in their ability to access interstate markets.
(3) Allowing interstate shipment of meat and meat food products inspected under qualifying State programs will—
(A) expand market access for small and mid-sized ranchers;
(B) increase competition in meat processing;
(C) strengthen domestic food supply resilience; and
(D) maintain food safety standards equivalent to Federal inspection.
SEC. 3. INTERSTATE SHIPMENT OF STATE-INSPECTED MEAT.
(a) Amendments.—Section 301(a)(1) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 661(a)(1)) is amended—
(1) by striking “solely for distribution within such State”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following: “Meat or meat food products may be shipped, transported, offered for sale, or sold in interstate commerce if such meat or meat food products were inspected and passed under such a State meat inspection law, provided that—
“(A) the Secretary has determined on or after the date that is 36 months before such shipment, transportation, offering for sale, or sale that the State meat inspection law meets the requirements of the previous sentence;
“(B) the establishment that produced the meat or meat food products has complied, with respect to such meat or meat food products, with all applicable requirements of such State meat inspection law;
“(C) the meat or meat food product bears labeling indicating that it was inspected and passed under a State meat inspection program for interstate shipment, transportation, and sale; and
“(D) the State that enacted such meat inspection law has agreed to submit to periodic audits by the Secretary.”.
(b) Rulemaking.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate regulations to implement the amendments made by subsection (a). <all>
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