Senator Angus King, Maine’s independent senator regularly criticized for his near complete alignment with the Democrat party on most issues, has proposed a bill gaining more steam among Republicans than Democrats.
Sen. King’s PRIME ACT is an attempt at addressing the nation’s butchershop problem; A problem that had been bubbling but that the early covid years made impossible to ignore. Americans living through that time, unaccustomed to empty space in there grocer’s meat section, were awoken to just how fragile our nation’s food supply network actually is. A percentage of those decided it was time to start raising their own animals. Another percentage started buying there meats directly from local farmers already in the business; encouraging those farmers to plan for raising more animals to meet demand. All of this came to a head at the local butcher shop.
People that had never raised livestock were getting there animals to a hanging weight and then calling butcher shops to schedule a slaughter. Many were disappointed to learn that the soonest opening wasn’t days or weeks out, but months. Reports of animals, specifically hogs, escaping from inexperienced farmers underestimating the strength of a full grown pig became common. Experienced farmers accustomed to booking slaughter dates 4 to 6 months in advance, where finding themselves needing to book 8 to 10 months in advance. Farmers feeding animals longer than expected were quickly operating at a loss.
The problem grew worse with the loss of the East Conway Butcher shop in New Hampshire. For many Maine farmers, East Conway was closer than other in-state options offering inspections and the fact that it was USDA meant Maine in-state sales were still permitted. This option stopped abruptly in the spring of 2022 when the East Conway Butcher shop burned to the ground.
Immediately following the blaze, facilities closest to that region, including the USDA inspected Windham Butcher shop in Windham, were inundated with calls from scheduled East Conway customers panicked with no place to bring there full-grown animals. Schedule times at the Windham Butcher shop were suddenly booking more than a year out, there price for slaughter and processing effectively doubled and they stopped answering the phone. For some livestock, this meant booking a slaughter date months before the animals were even born.
The meat inspection process in the United States is governed by the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). Of the many requirements outlined in the FMIA, one is that slaughtered and processed animals sold to customers must come from a facility with either a state inspector or federal inspector present and that state inspections must meet the same standards as federal inspections. The FMIA also permits the USDA to outfit, train, furnish resources and fund potentially up to 50% toward a state’s own inspection program.
Following the guidelines outlined in the FMIA, Maine state regulations require slaughtered and processed meat be labeled in one of four ways. Facilities offering a custom slaughter must include a “Not for Sale” label on the packaging. This indicates that the person having the animal slaughtered and processed can consume the meat themselves give it away to family & friends but it can absolutely not be sold it to anyone anywhere.
However, if a slaughtered and processed animal is going to be sold to any customers in Maine or elsewhere, it must have one of three types of labeling on the packaging. A Maine State Inspection permits in-state sales only. A State CIS Inspection permits in-state and interstate sales. finally, A Federal USDA inspection allows for meat to be sold to in-state, interstate or international customers.
The Prime Act proposes the federal government step back from requiring inspections for slaughtered and processed animals if it’s being sold within the state that the facility is located. Specifically, rather than requiring a “Not for Sale” label on custom slaughter or processed animals, those products could be sold to customers within the same state it was slaughtered and processed in.
Currently, for a farmer looking to have their animals slaughtered and processed within Maine, to then be sold to Maine customers, there’s basically a dozen or so options. These facilities offer either USDA, State CIS or State inspections and so farmers focused primarily on in-state customers are competing for butcher shop space with farmers selling nationally and internationally.
If the PRIME Act were to pass, and Maine’s regulations where brought in line with the proposal, farmers focused on in-state customers could potentially have an additional 20 butcher shops to choose from.
Not only would permitting the use of these custom only butcher shops relieve a bottleneck driving up costs, potentially 20 Maine businesses would have an opportunity for growth within a market previously unavailable to them. Additionally, the passage of the PRIME Act would have the result of strengthening our regional food network as well as the ability to feed ourselves locally.
Sen. King first sponsored the PRIME Act in 2016. At the time, he had only one co-sponsor, Republican Senator Rand Paul. The house’s version, sponsored by Representative Thomas Massie, had garnered only 21 co-sponsors in a body of 435 representatives. Maine’s Representative, Chellie Pingree, was one of just 5 Democrats to co-sponsor the original bill. Former Maine Representative Bruce Poliquin joined as a co-sponsor in 2017 & 2019 before being replaced by Democrat Jared Golden.
Sen. King & Rep. Massie proposed The Prime Act a fourth and fifth time in 2021 and 2023 respectively and both of Maine’s house reps have joined in co-sponsoring the House version. However, at this time, Sen. Susan Collins has never joined Angus King, and other prominent Senate Republicans, as a co-sponsor for the senate version.
The current attempt at the Prime Act currently has co-sponsor support from just 8 other senators; six Republicans and two Democrats; Senator Susan Collins not among them. Rep. Massie’s House version currently has 44 co-sponsors, 39 of which are republicans along with 5 Democrats, Rep. Jared Golden and Rep. Pingree being two of the five.
Despite these multiple attempts, no version of The Prime Act, as of yet, has garnered enough support to reach the floors of either the House or Senate for an actual vote.
–TMP
Sources:
Fire destroys East Conway butcher shop
ME Red Meat and Poultry Inspection
Title 22, Chapter 562-A: PREPARATION OF LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY PRODUCTS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
‘I got stuck with thirty to forty hogs’: Meat producers frustrated by slaughterhouse backlogs
To Help Farmers and Cut Meat Costs, King, Paul Introduce Bill to Reduce Red Tape for Maine Farmers