S. 2409 — PRIME Act

Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act or the PRIME Act

This bill exempts from federal inspection requirements animals and meats that are slaughtered and prepared at custom animal slaughter facilities for distribution within the state. Under current law, a custom slaughter exemption applies if the meat is slaughtered exclusively for personal, household, guest, or employee uses.

Specifically, the bill expands the federal inspection exemption to include the slaughter of animals or the preparation of carcasses, meat, and meat food products that are

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, meat, and meat food products at a custom slaughter facility; or (2) the sale of meat or meat food products.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2409 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2409

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2025

    Mr. King (for himself, Mr. Paul, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Merkley, Mrs. 
   Gillibrand, Mr. Cramer, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Hoeven, and Mr. Lee) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 subsections (b), (c), and (d) as 
        subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) Exemption for Slaughter and Preparation Occurring at Custom 
Slaughter Facilities.--
            ``(1) Definition of state.--In this subsection, the term 
        `State' means any State or territory.
            ``(2) Exemption.--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 those operations for commerce shall 
        not apply to the slaughtering by any person of animals at a 
        custom slaughter facility and the preparation at that custom 
        slaughter facility and transportation in commerce of the 
        carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food products of those 
        animals if--
                    ``(A) the slaughtering and preparation carried out 
                at the 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 slaughtered and the 
                carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food products 
                of the animals are prepared exclusively for 
                distribution to--
                            ``(i) household consumers within the State 
                        in which the custom slaughter facility is 
                        located; or
                            ``(ii) restaurants, hotels, boarding 
                        houses, grocery stores, or other establishments 
                        located in the State in which the custom 
                        slaughter facility is located 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.''; and
            (3) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), in the second 
        sentence, by striking ``paragraph (b)'' and inserting 
        ``subsection''.

SEC. 3. NO PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.

    Nothing in an amendment made by section 2 preempts any State law 
relating to--
            (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.
                                 <all>

PRIME Act

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