Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 5/21/10

USDA said Thursday that it wants to help increase the availability of slaughterhouses to serve small livestock and poultry producers. The effort is part of the agency's "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative, which partly seeks to rebuild rural economies and bridge a gap between food producers and consumers.

Matthew Michael of the Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a press briefing that maps developed by the agency show that high densities of small cattle, pork and chicken producers lack access to federally and state-inspected slaughterhouses across the United States. USDA wants to help existing and new facilities increase slaughter availability in these regions to benefit local food systems and the public health, he said.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan told Meatingplace in a question-and-answer session following the press briefing that the agency has yet to make plans for "big investments" involving construction of new slaughterhouses, and hasn't identified what an ideal number of additional slaughterhouses would be. Meanwhile, strategies include finalizing implementation of the interstate shipping rule and clarifying rules around mobile slaughter units.

Michael said capital improvements at existing facilities would enhance food safety, for example, by helping small (10 to 499 employees) and very small slaughterhouses (fewer than 10 employees or less than $2.5 million in annual sales) implement pathogen testing programs that would help reach the pathogen reduction goals outlined in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthier People 2020.

USDA provided a series of maps that paired concentrations of beef, pork and poultry production with available slaughter facilities.

The slaughterhouse initiative comes as small and very small slaughterhouses argue that USDA's call for updated HACCP validation would put them out of business. However, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during the press briefing, "The reality is that is not the case." He said USDA seeks to offer clarification on what already is required rather than impose new requirements, such as more pathogen testing.

USDA is in the process of contacting processors and clarifying its position, Merrigan added.

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