FSIS Establishes Fee-For-Service Program For Horsemeat

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced an interim final rule establishing a voluntary fee-for-service program under which establishments that slaughter horses can continue to receive

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced an interim final rule establishing a voluntary fee-for-service program under which establishments that slaughter horses can continue to receive antemortem inspection.


To prevent adulterated meat and meat products from entering commerce, the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) requires that FSIS inspection program personnel conduct ante-mortem inspection of all livestock (cattle sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules and other equines) before they are allowed to enter any slaughtering facility.  The FMIA also requires that FSIS inspection program personnel conduct postmortem examination and inspection of the carcasses and meat from those animals, as well as the establishments, to determine whether sanitary conditions are being maintained. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) requires that humane methods be used for handling and slaughtering livestock and that the Secretary of Agriculture assign inspectors to examine these methods at facilities where livestock are slaughtered. 


The FY 2006 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act included a section prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to pay the salaries or expenses of personnel to inspect horses (ante-mortem inspection) after March 10.  Report language for the Act recognized FSIS’s obligation under the law to inspect horses. 


While the appropriations bill prohibited appropriated funds from being used to pay for ante-mortem inspection, it does not eliminate FSIS’s responsibility under the FMIA to carry out post-mortem inspection of carcasses and meat at official establishments that slaughter horses.  In response to a petition FSIS is establishing a fee-for-service program under which establishments can apply and pay for ante-mortem inspection of horses

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