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Kansas adopting changes to meat and poultry inspection regulations

The Kansas Department of Agriculture is simplifying state meat and poultry inspection regulations.

Meat and Poultry Inspection Program Manager Jeremy Schooler tells Brownfield the department has essentially rewritten portions of the Code of Federal Regulations to align with the Kansas Meat and Poultry Inspection Act.

“We took out some parts that really don’t pertain to our program, since we operate a little different than USDA, and we can’t ship things across state borders and stuff like that. It’s in our wording,” he says.

Field Inspection Manager Mike Pierce says the update will allow the state program’s regulations to remain at least equal to the federal inspection program.

“We adopted by reference before. So now we’ll have our own code. We can make changes as we need to make changes.”

He says having a more uniform code is vital to food safety.

“We’re in charge of those animals, from the time they get to the slaughter facilities. Our goal is to make sure that it’s a safe product to consume and it’s properly labeled,” he says.

Both say the updates will have no impact to the establishments KDA regulates. The state program is overseen by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Program.

Brownfield interviewed Pierce and Schooler following a Wednesday public hearing at the KDA offices in Manhattan, Kansas.

Mike Pierce and Jeremy Schooler, Kansas Department of Agriculture