Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is one of dozens of organizations, and more than 600 signatories from across the country to support a petition by Rural Vermont to improve the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA).
Currently, FMIA only allows farmers to raise, slaughter, and butcher their animals without inspection for their personal use, not sold to customers. On September 19, Senators Peter Welch (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local (LOCAL) Foods Act (S.5106) to permanently protect the ability of livestock farmers, consumers, custom processors, and itinerant slaughterers to practice and benefit from on-farm slaughter.
The Local (LOCAL) Foods Act (S.5106) updates the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) to reflect modern USDA guidance, clarifying that the slaughtering of livestock that a person owns, in whole or in part, is legal when it happens on the farm where it was raised.
“The LOCAL Foods Act protects the rights of farmers to sell directly from their farm and the rights of consumers to access the foods of their choice from the source of their choice, achieving the kind of food freedom so many desire for themselves, their families, and their communities,” said Christine Dzujna, Farm-to-Consumer Defense Fund’s Policy Manager.
About Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
FTCLDF is a non-profit organization that works to protect, defend, and broaden the rights and viability of independent farmers, artisanal food producers, and their consumers. For more information, please visit http://www.farmtoconsumer.org or call (703) 208-FARM (3276).
Media Contact for Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Alexia Kulwiec, Executive Director
[email protected]
703.208.3276
Additional Media Contacts
Antonio Tovar, Senior Policy Associate at the National Family Farm Coalition
[email protected] | (202) 543-5675
Caroline Sherman-Gordon, Legislative Director at Rural Vermont
[email protected] | 802-223-7222
Judith McGeary, Executive Director at Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
[email protected] | (512) 484-8821