?Iowa has a great brand for agriculture, and certainly for meat production,? states Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) staff recently took steps to provide folks across state lines access to Iowa’s meat products.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship this week finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).
Secretary Naig says Iowa meat lockers and smaller processors are now “one step closer” to selling meat products across state lines, under the Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) agreement.
?Some meat lockers and smaller processors approached us about entering into a deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would allow them to be state inspected, but allow them to sell products across state lines, which they?re currently prohibited from doing,? Secretary Naig said. ?Once we implement this program, they will be able to.?
Secretary Naig says interested parties now “need to go through the application process.”
“Not much changes for them other than we need to do an analysis to ensure they’re meeting food safety requirements. They will also get a visit from the federal inspectors occasionally. On a day-to-day basis, state inspectors will be in the plants,” Secretary Naig said.
Iowa is the seventh state to sign the Cooperative Interstate Shipment agreement, which looks to provide a wide array of markets for meat lockers and small processors.
