Following the entry of a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) for a state meat inspection program in July 2022, the Oregon Department of Agriculture been allocated $9 million in state funding to support the state meat inspection program.

Under the cooperative agreement, state inspection programs must develop, administer, and enforce requirements that are “at least equal to” those imposed under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). FSIS provides guidance to state MPI programs under cooperative agreements, reviews each state MPI program annually at minimum, and provides approximately $60 million dollars each year to support the state MPI programs that are currently operating.

Oregon pursued a state meat inspection program to address difficulties faced by Oregon’s meat producers, such as the limited options for in-state processing that only worsened during the pandemic, with some ranchers waiting 18 months to process their livestock. Under the cooperative agreement, exiting USDA-inspected facilities in Oregon can elect to enroll in the state meat inspection program if it makes better business sense than federal inspection.

The recently allocated $9 million in funding will support and expand the capacity of the state meat inspection program in Oregon over the next two years.