WASHINGTON — Restaurants and casinos in Wendover, Nev., say they would love to buy fine sausage from Tooele Valley Meats in nearby Grantsville, Utah.
But federal law prevents it — because meat produced by that small company is inspected by Utah officials, not federal inspectors. So it cannot be exported across state boundaries.
Ironically, those Wendover restaurants could import sausage from foreign countries that is inspected abroad. More ironically, federal law allows interstate export of state-inspected buffalo, emu, ostrich and other exotic meats — just not beef, pork and poultry.
"This makes absolutely no sense," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Thursday. He is pushing a bill to allow export of state-inspected meats, as long as states enforce federal inspection standards.
It would help mostly small, family-owned meat producers. They often opt for state inspection because it is less costly and offers more flexibility in timing for plants that are not running around-the-clock production shifts.
"We trust state inspectors to efficiently inspect emu but not beef. And it's OK to sell state-inspected beef or pork in Utah but no where else," Hatch complained.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Richard Rominger agreed the situation is bad and supported Hatch's bill saying it "solves the perennial question of how to level the playing field for the small and very small state-inspected meat and poultry processing plants."
He noted the bill would allow state programs that meet federal quality standards each year to give a federal mark of inspection, allowing it to be exported beyond state borders.
Hatch had several other stories about how current law has hurt small meat producers in Utah.
For example, he said Uintah Packing in Vernal had a brisk business selling steaks to river outfitters taking tourists down the Green and Colorado Rivers — until outfitters were told they could not serve them on portions of trips that dip into Colorado or Arizona.
Hatch said the company "lost their business and has never fully recovered from it."
Also, he said L&H Packing in Smithfield — 15 miles from the Idaho border — produces roast beef, jerky products and sausage.
Hatch said the company has been contacted by a number of businesses in Idaho seeking to purchase the company's products. "Once again, a small businessman in a rural area was faced with a chance to expand his business but was forced to turn it down."
Richard Nielson, president of the Utah Cattlemen's Association, also testified in favor of Hatch's bill saying it "will remove a barrier that impeded competition, impedes growth and limits the marketing opportunities for U.S. beef."