LSA #25-165 Meat and Poultry Products Inspection

a. History and Background of the Rule – The Board of Animal Health (BOAH) proposes to amend its rules governing meat and poultry products inspection (345 IAC Article 9; 345 IAC Article 10). The primary purpose of the changes is to conform BOAH's rules to the United States Department of Agriculture - Food Safety Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) regulatory requirements under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act (9 CFR Parts 300 – 500).

State law requires the BOAH to enforce requirements with respect to intrastate  operations that are at least equal to those imposed and enforced under the federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) and the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.). See IC 15-17-5-1(4). In order to comply with this statutory mandate, BOAH must periodically update the meat and poultry rules to ensure they are at least equal to 9 CFR Subchapter E, which contains the requirements for federally inspected facilities. This is largely accomplished by updating the incorporation by reference of the pertinent federal regulations every two years, which is what is being proposed in this request. BOAH is proposing to update the incorporation by reference at 345 IAC 9-2.1-1 and 345 IAC 10-2.1-1 from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2024. The rule also updates the incorporation by reference of the federal regulations for the voluntary inspection of rabbits. This rule was last updated in 2022 (LSA #22-259).

b. Scope of the Rule – In addition to updating the date of incorporation by reference for the federal MPI regulations to January 1, 2024, the proposed rule will incorporate subsequent amendments to the regulations for voluntary labeling of meat products with US origin claims at 89 FR 19470, 19494 (March 18, 2024). It also amends 345 IAC 9-17-4 and 345 IAC 10-14-18, which are the sections of the MPI that govern label approval to incorporate these new federal requirements for US origin claims. The rule adds new sections to the meat and poultry rules that clarify the requirements for establishments to manufacture pet food in areas where edible products are produced.  It also describes requirements for this product to enter commerce from a meat processing establishment.

c. Statement of Need – In addition to the state statutory mandate discussed above, this proposed rule is necessary to implement a federal mandate. State law authorizes the BOAH to cooperate with USDA-FSIS to effectuate the purpose of the Meat and Poultry Inspection Law, to accept federal assistance for that purpose, and spend public funds appropriate for the administration of the law to pay not more than fifty percent (50%) of the total cost of the cooperative program (IC 15-17-5-5(11)). Pursuant to this authority, the BOAH has entered into a state-federal cooperative agreement with USDA-FSIS to receive 50% of the annual operating costs of the Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) program. BOAH's program is subject to regular audits by USDA-FSIS to ensure that the state standards are at least equal to federal requirements.

If BOAH does not update the incorporation by reference, it would jeopardize the funding the agency receives under the state-federal agreement. This would have a negative impact on the regulated community because Indiana relies on the federal funding to support an adequate number of inspectors for the state’s official and custom exempt plants. If BOAH cannot fund an adequate number of inspectors, the official plants will not be able to operate at full capacity because an inspector must be on site continually during the slaughtering process and inspect the processing area once per day. BOAH personnel inspected 18.7 million pounds of meat in calendar year 2024.

d. Statutory Authority for the Proposed Rule – The state Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) Act authorizes the BOAH to require by rules the following:

IC 15-17-5-4; IC 15-17-5-5.

e. Fees, Fines, and Civil Penalties – The proposed does not add or increases any fees, fines, or civil penalties that would need to satisfy the additional requirements in IC 4-22-2-19.6.