American Protein Processing Modernization Act

This bill tells the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to set clear food safety rules for meat and poultry plants that want to run their lines faster than today’s limits. The USDA must publish these rules within 90 days and start reviewing plant requests. It must answer each request within 90 days; if it doesn’t, the request is automatically approved.

Plants already running faster can keep doing so if they keep food safety under control, until the USDA approves or denies their request. If approved, they can keep operating at the faster speed as long as they meet the safety rules. If a plant falls short, USDA must send a written notice; the plant gets 180 days to fix the problems. If it doesn’t, USDA can revoke permission and set a timeline to slow back down, while trying to reduce harm to farmers, contracts, and animal welfare. These changes do not make USDA responsible for worker safety or environmental impacts from faster speeds. “Alternate inspection rates” here means speeds higher than current federal limits .

Key points

• Who is affected: Meat and poultry plants; USDA; farmers and growers who rely on processing schedules.
• What changes: USDA must publish safety criteria, review requests, and reply in 90 days; no reply means approval. There’s a notice-and-fix process (180 days) before revoking faster speeds, and a planned slowdown to limit negative effects. USDA isn’t made responsible for worker safety or environmental effects in this section .
• When: Within 90 days of the law taking effect, the USDA must publish the criteria and begin reviews. Each request must get a response within 90 days; plants have 180 days to fix problems after a notice .