USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is the federal agency responsible for issuing regulations that govern contracting, buying and selling of livestock and poultry. GIPSA proposed new rules in June and have extended the comment period to November 22, 2010.
For the full text of the proposed rules, click here.
Grandin says that the new rules could mean that animals will be mistreated. She has filed comments with USDA and wrote a guest column in a recent Huffington Post. Grandin outlined some undesirable situations that she says will occur if packers are prohibited from purchasing or receiving livestock from another packer or packer-affiliated company. Some of these situations included that older breeding stock may have to be shipped longer distances which would subject older animals to additional stress of loading and unloading and cause more bruising of the animals.
Grandin stated, "I am a big proponent of the specialized niche markets where a producers is paid a premium for raising animals to a particular specification such as high welfare or other specialized markets."
To read the Food Safety News story, click here.
For more information on GIPSA and the Packers & Stockyards Act, click here.
Posted: 10/25/2010
