I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1258 To amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act and the Federal Meat Inspec- tion Act to support small and very small meat and poultry processing establishments, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Ms. PINGREE (for herself, Mr. FORTENBERRY, and Ms. KUSTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act and the Fed- eral Meat Inspection Act to support small and very small meat and poultry processing establishments, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Local 4 Processing Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1258 IH SEC. 2. HACCP GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES FOR SMALLER 1 AND VERY SMALL POULTRY AND MEAT ES- 2 TABLISHMENTS. 3 (a) POULTRY ESTABLISHMENTS.—The Poultry Prod- 4 ucts Inspection Act is amended by inserting after section 5 14 (21 U.S.C. 463) the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 14A. SMALLER AND VERY SMALL ESTABLISHMENT 7 GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES. 8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS OF SMALLER ESTABLISHMENT 9 AND VERY SMALL ESTABLISHMENT.—In this section, the 10 terms ‘smaller establishment’ and ‘very small establish- 11 ment’ have the meanings given those terms in the final 12 rule entitled ‘Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and 13 Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 14 38806 (July 25, 1996)). 15 ‘‘(b) DATABASE OF STUDIES; MODEL PLANS.—Not 16 later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this 17 section, the Secretary shall— 18 ‘‘(1) establish a free, searchable database of ap- 19 proved peer-reviewed validation studies accessible to 20 smaller establishments and very small establish- 21 ments subject to inspection under this Act for use 22 in developing a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control 23 Points plan; and 24 ‘‘(2) publish online scale-appropriate model 25 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plans 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1258 IH for smaller establishments and very small establish- 1 ments, including model plans for— 2 ‘‘(A) slaughter-only establishments; 3 ‘‘(B) processing-only establishments; and 4 ‘‘(C) slaughter and processing establish- 5 ments. 6 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 2 years after the 7 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall pub- 8 lish a guidance document, after notice and an opportunity 9 for public comment, providing information on the require- 10 ments that need to be met for smaller establishments and 11 very small establishments to receive approval for a Hazard 12 Analysis and Critical Control Points Plan pursuant to this 13 Act.’’. 14 (b) MEAT ESTABLISHMENTS.—The Federal Meat In- 15 spection Act is amended by inserting after section 25 (21 16 U.S.C. 625) the following: 17 ‘‘SEC. 26. SMALLER AND VERY SMALL ESTABLISHMENT 18 GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES. 19 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS OF SMALLER ESTABLISHMENT 20 AND VERY SMALL ESTABLISHMENT.—In this section, the 21 terms ‘smaller establishment’ and ‘very small establish- 22 ment’ have the meanings given those terms in the final 23 rule entitled ‘Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1258 IH Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 1 38806 (July 25, 1996)). 2 ‘‘(b) DATABASE OF STUDIES; MODEL PLANS.—Not 3 later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this 4 section, the Secretary shall— 5 ‘‘(1) establish a free, searchable database of ap- 6 proved peer-reviewed validation studies accessible to 7 smaller establishments and very small establish- 8 ments subject to inspection under this Act for use 9 in developing a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control 10 Points plan; and 11 ‘‘(2) publish online scale-appropriate model 12 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plans 13 for smaller establishments and very small establish- 14 ments, including model plans for— 15 ‘‘(A) slaughter-only establishments; 16 ‘‘(B) processing-only establishments; and 17 ‘‘(C) slaughter and processing establish- 18 ments. 19 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 2 years after the 20 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall pub- 21 lish a guidance document, after notice and an opportunity 22 for public comment, providing information on the require- 23 ments that need to be met for smaller establishments and 24 very small establishments to receive approval for a Hazard 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1258 IH Analysis and Critical Control Points Plan pursuant to this 1 Act.’’. 2 SEC. 3. INCREASING MAXIMUM FEDERAL SHARE FOR EX- 3 PENSES OF STATE INSPECTION. 4 (a) POULTRY PRODUCTS.—Section 5(a)(3) of the 5 Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 454(a)(3)) is 6 amended in the second sentence by striking ‘‘50 per cen- 7 tum’’ and inserting ‘‘65 percent’’. 8 (b) MEAT AND MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS.—Section 9 301(a)(3) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 10 661(a)(3)) is amended in the second sentence by striking 11 ‘‘50 per centum’’ and inserting ‘‘65 percent’’. 12 SEC. 4. COOPERATIVE INTERSTATE SHIPMENT OF POUL- 13 TRY AND MEAT. 14 (a) POULTRY PRODUCTS.—Section 31 of the Poultry 15 Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 472) is amended— 16 (1) in subsection (b)— 17 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘25 em- 18 ployees’’ each place it appears and inserting 19 ‘‘50 employees’’; and 20 (B) in paragraph (3)— 21 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 22 ing ‘‘25’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; 23 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 24 ‘‘25’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1258 IH (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 1 (I) in clause (i), by striking 2 ‘‘more than 25 employees but less 3 than 35 employees’’ and inserting 4 ‘‘more than 50 employees but less 5 than 70 employees’’; and 6 (II) in clause (ii), by striking 7 ‘‘subsection (i)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 8 section (j)’’; 9 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘60 percent’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘80 percent’’; 11 (3) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘subsection 12 (i)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (j)’’; 13 (4) by redesignating subsections (f) through (i) 14 as subsections (g) through (j), respectively; and 15 (5) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(f) FEDERAL OUTREACH.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In each of fiscal years 19 2021 through 2024, for the purpose of State partici- 20 pation in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment pro- 21 gram, the Secretary shall conduct outreach to, and, 22 as appropriate, subsequent negotiation with, not 23 fewer than 25 percent of the States that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1258 IH ‘‘(A) have a State poultry product inspec- 1 tion program pursuant to section 5; but 2 ‘‘(B) do not have a selected establishment. 3 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—At the conclusion of each of fis- 4 cal years 2021 through 2024, the Secretary shall 5 submit a report detailing the activities and results of 6 the outreach conducted during that fiscal year under 7 paragraph (1) to— 8 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Agriculture of the 9 House of Representatives; 10 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri- 11 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 12 ‘‘(C) the Subcommittee on Agriculture, 13 Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminis- 14 tration, and Related Agencies of the Committee 15 on Appropriations of the House of Representa- 16 tives; and 17 ‘‘(D) the Subcommittee on Agriculture, 18 Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminis- 19 tration, and Related Agencies of the Committee 20 on Appropriations of the Senate.’’. 21 (b) MEAT AND MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS.—Section 22 501 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 683) 23 is amended— 24 (1) in subsection (b)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1258 IH (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘25 em- 1 ployees’’ each place it appears and inserting 2 ‘‘50 employees’’; and 3 (B) in paragraph (3)— 4 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 5 ing ‘‘25’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; 6 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 7 ‘‘25’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; and 8 (iii) in subparagraph (B)(i), by strik- 9 ing ‘‘more than 25 employees but less than 10 35 employees’’ and inserting ‘‘more than 11 50 employees but less than 70 employees’’; 12 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘60 percent’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘80 percent’’; and 14 (3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL OUTREACH.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In each of fiscal years 18 2021 through 2024, for the purpose of State 19 participation in the Cooperative Interstate Ship- 20 ment program, the Secretary shall conduct out- 21 reach to, and, as appropriate, subsequent nego- 22 tiation with, not fewer than 25 percent of the 23 States that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1258 IH ‘‘(i) have a State meat inspection pro- 1 gram pursuant to section 301; but 2 ‘‘(ii) do not have a selected establish- 3 ment. 4 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—At the conclusion of each 5 of fiscal years 2021 through 2024, the Sec- 6 retary shall submit a report detailing the activi- 7 ties and results of the outreach conducted dur- 8 ing that fiscal year under paragraph (1) to— 9 ‘‘(i) the Committee on Agriculture of 10 the House of Representatives; 11 ‘‘(ii) the Committee on Agriculture, 12 Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate; 13 ‘‘(iii) the Subcommittee on Agri- 14 culture, Rural Development, Food and 15 Drug Administration, and Related Agen- 16 cies of the Committee on Appropriations of 17 the House of Representatives; and 18 ‘‘(iv) the Subcommittee on Agri- 19 culture, Rural Development, Food and 20 Drug Administration, and Related Agen- 21 cies of the Committee on Appropriations of 22 the Senate.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1258 IH SEC. 5. PROCESSING RESILIENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 1 Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 2 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 3 the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 210B. PROCESSING RESILIENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 7 tity’ means— 8 ‘‘(A) a smaller establishment or very small 9 establishment (as those terms are defined in the 10 final rule entitled ‘Pathogen Reduction; Hazard 11 Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) 12 Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 33806 (July 25, 13 1996))); 14 ‘‘(B) a slaughtering or processing estab- 15 lishment subject to— 16 ‘‘(i) a State meat inspection program 17 pursuant to section 301 of the Federal 18 Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 661); or 19 ‘‘(ii) a State poultry product inspec- 20 tion program pursuant to section 5 of the 21 Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 22 U.S.C. 454); 23 ‘‘(C) a person engaging in custom oper- 24 ations that is exempt from inspection under— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1258 IH ‘‘(i) section 23 of the Federal Meat 1 Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 623); or 2 ‘‘(ii) section 15 of the Poultry Prod- 3 ucts Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 464); and 4 ‘‘(D) a person seeking— 5 ‘‘(i) to establish and operate an estab- 6 lishment described in subparagraph (A) or 7 (B); or 8 ‘‘(ii) to engage in custom operations 9 described in subparagraph (C). 10 ‘‘(2) MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESS.—The term 11 ‘minority-owned business’ means a for-profit busi- 12 ness not less than 51 percent of which is owned by 13 1 or more Black American, Native American, His- 14 panic American, or Asian American individuals. 15 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 16 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ad- 17 ministrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. 18 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 20 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec- 21 retary shall award competitive grants to eligible enti- 22 ties for activities to adapt production, processing, 23 distribution, and sales systems to respond to and re- 24 cover from the effects of the Coronavirus Disease 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1258 IH 2019 (referred to in this section as ‘COVID–19’) 1 pandemic, including activities that— 2 ‘‘(A) support the health and safety of meat 3 and poultry plant employees, suppliers, and cus- 4 tomers; 5 ‘‘(B) support increased processing capac- 6 ity; and 7 ‘‘(C) otherwise support the resilience of the 8 small meat and poultry processing sector. 9 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The maximum 10 amount of a grant awarded under this section shall 11 not exceed $500,000. 12 ‘‘(3) DURATION.—The term of a grant awarded 13 under this section shall not exceed 3 years. 14 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 16 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec- 17 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 18 and containing such information as the Secretary 19 may require. 20 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL GRANTS.—The 21 Secretary shall establish a separate, simplified appli- 22 cation process for eligible entities applying for a 23 grant under this section of not more than $100,000. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1258.IH H1258 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 1258 IH ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall en- 1 sure that any application for a grant under this sec- 2 tion is— 3 ‘‘(A) simple and practicable; 4 ‘‘(B) accessible online; and 5 ‘‘(C) available through local staff of the 6 Department of Agriculture. 7 ‘‘(4) NOTICE.—Not later than [Text truncated for display. 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