Federal Meat Inspection Act

That's a federal crime.

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, it's illegal to forage, counterfeit, or simulate An official USD mark.

Use of an official mark or something that tries to look like one without authorization.

Not only represent that meat was federally inspected and passed when it was not.

That's a federal crime.

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, it's illegal to forage, counterfeit, or simulate An official USD mark.

Use of an official mark or something that tries to look like one without authorization.

Not only represent that meat was federally inspected and passed when it was not.

Anyway, at the time, readers of The Jungle were more outraged by descriptions of rotten meat than by the treatment of meatpacking workers.

The Jungle led to the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

That's pretty cool for Upton Sinclair, although my books have also led to some federal legislation, such as the Howtp.

which officially declared Hazel and Augustus the nation's OTP.

They were created by the railroads to protect their monopolies.

The Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

Swift and Armour created a barrier to entry for smaller meat packers.

The Motor, I think it was called the Motor Care Act of 1935 was done in, right in the Great Depression, did the same thing.

yeah

now there are some really worrying precedents in here and those because it just it they they are useful so up the great upton sinclair wrote a an absolutely legendary novel called the jungle in 1905 which revealed the the absolute scandals of the meat packing business in the states and And what followed was the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

But what was clever was the Chicago meatpacking industry, instead of resisting it, stormed in and said, no, we'll help.

Well, you know, Upton's right.

One of the greatest, most effective forms of cronyism in history, a government regulatory body that was coming in to regulate the people at the top that benefited from the subsidy of that regulation that impacted their competitors.

The Meat Inspection Act of 1906, Swift and Armour, crushing small competitors who could not afford the rigorous compliance cost.

The Motor Carrier Act in 1935, the trucking industry doing the same thing, a gift to the large trucking companies and destructive to smaller competitors.

I believe it is the most famous example of the 20th century, but it is indisputable on a bipartisan basis, the way in which AT&T used telecommunications regulation to stifle competition.

And, you know, in 1906, Sinclair, Upton Sinclair published this book, The Jungle, this novel about the meatpacking, uh, industry in, in Chicago.

And it created such a stir that that same year it came out, Teddy Roosevelt was president, and he signed legislation that, it ultimately created the, uh, it was called the fu- poor fu- poi- Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

He signed both of them on the same day, and they created the USDA inspection system and the, and ultimately, the Food and Drug Administration.

And 102 years later, in 2008, Congress added mandatory country of origin labels for meat.

I think, I, I think the, the first thing we need to say is, "President Trump, you've agreed that American beef is the best beef, and we agree with that, and we love you for it.

Uh, so let us sell it directly to consumers." And what that looks like is we have to amend and change the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

And there's a way to do it.

The PRIME Act, uh, as sponsored by Representative Thomas Massie in the US House, uh, that piece of legislation goes towards that.

Now, what it, what it specifically does, and for those, uh, for, for your listeners out there, there's three levels of, uh, inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and we all, we all recognize them, but here's their labels so you recognize them better.

You've, you've got your first, that's federally inspected.

Typically, that's your big packers.

Then, he sent his own investigators anyway, a labor commissioner named Charles Neal and a social worker named James Reynolds, and their report confirmed enough of the book that Roosevelt used it to force Congress's hand.

On June 30, 1906, he signed the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act on the same day.

These laws are the great-grandparents of the inspection system Lake Geneva Country Meats operates under today, and I'm glad they exist.

A USDA inspector is part of daily life at our shop, and your food is safer for it.