PRIME Act

Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act or the PRIME Act

This bill expands the exemption of custom slaughtering of animals from federal inspection requirements.

Under current law, the exemption applies if the meat is slaughtered for personal, household, guest, and employee uses. The bill expands the exemption to include meat that is

• slaughtered and prepared at a custom slaughter facility in accordance with the laws of the state where the facility is located; and
• prepared exclusively for distribution to household consumers in the state or restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, grocery stores, or other establishments in the state that either prepare meals served directly to consumers or offer meat and food products for sale directly to consumers in the state.

The bill does not preempt any state law concerning (1) the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, parts thereof, meat and meat food products at a custom slaughter facility; or (2) the sale of meat or meat food products.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2859 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2859

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to exempt from inspection the 
 slaughter of animals and the preparation of carcasses conducted at a 
           custom slaughter facility, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2019

Mr. Massie (for himself, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Amash, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Duncan, 
 Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Huffman, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Meadows, Mr. Perry, 
and Ms. Stefanik) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                      the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to exempt from inspection the 
 slaughter of animals and the preparation of carcasses conducted at a 
           custom slaughter facility, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Processing Revival and Intrastate 
Meat Exemption Act'' or the ``PRIME Act''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FOR SLAUGHTER AND PREPARATION OCCURRING AT CUSTOM 
              SLAUGHTER FACILITIES.

    Section 23 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 623) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) as 
        paragraphs (c), (d), and (e), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (a) the following new 
        paragraph:
    ``(b)(1) The provisions of this title requiring inspection of the 
slaughter of animals and the preparation of the carcasses, parts 
thereof, meat and meat food products at establishments conducting such 
operations for commerce shall not apply to the slaughtering by any 
person of animals at a custom slaughter facility, and the preparation 
at such custom slaughter facility and transportation in commerce of the 
carcasses, parts thereof, meat and meat food products of such animals 
if--
            ``(A) the slaughtering and preparation carried out at such 
        custom slaughter facility is carried out in accordance with the 
        law of the State in which the custom slaughter facility is 
        located; and
            ``(B) the animals are so slaughtered and the carcasses, 
        parts thereof, meat and meat food products of such animals are 
        so prepared exclusively for distribution to--
                    ``(i) household consumers within the State; and
                    ``(ii) restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, 
                grocery stores, or other establishments located in such 
                State that--
                            ``(I) are involved in the preparation of 
                        meals served directly to consumers; or
                            ``(II) offer meat and meat food products 
                        for sale directly to consumers in the State.
    ``(2) For purposes of subparagraph (1), the term `State' means each 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and each 
territory or possession of the United States.''; and
            (3) in paragraph (c) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)), in 
        the second sentence, by striking ``paragraph (b)'' and 
        inserting ``paragraph (c)''.

SEC. 3. NO PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.

    The amendments made by section 2 shall not be construed as 
preempting any State law that concerns the slaughter of animals or the 
preparation of carcasses, parts thereof, meat and meat food products at 
a custom slaughter facility, or the sale of meat or meat food products.
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