Everyone wants high quality food. But has federal regulation of food enhanced its healthfulness?
Since Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act in 1967, requiring that every cut of meat from an animal raised in the United States be slaughtered in a USDA-inspected slaughterhouse, the local meat industry got slaughtered as well.
- The U.S. lost 60 % of its beef herds.
- Four companies have come to control 85% of U.S. beef processing.
- From being the world’s number one beef producer, the U.S. became a net importer of beef: 16%- 18% of our beef is imported, or 4.4 billion pounds, with Brazil now the world’s top beef producer.
- The U.S. lost 70% of its slaughterhouses.
- The origin of the meat being purchased is unknown, because the World Trade Organization prohibits meat to be labeled with country of origin.
- The added cost to transport livestock long distances to USDA facilities has help raise the price of meat to record highs.
- With only four USDA-inspected slaughterhouses in the state, farmers are often unable to obtain a slot to get their animals processed, causing them to reduce their herds.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte vetoed House Bill 396, a bill that would allow small farmers to sell limited quantities of meat to local buyers (up to three cows, five pigs or 10 sheep or goats a month) without the need for a USDA-inspected processor. The Governor provided several arguments for her decision, but on close inspection they do not hold up.
Until 1967, New Hampshire permitted uninspected meat to be sold by farmers within the state, without obvious problems. After the 1967 Act, farmers could still butcher their own animals, but they could only consume the meat themselves or give it away.
In the mid-1960s, according to USDA data, there were roughly 1.6 million beef cow herds in the U.S. According to the 2022 USDA census, there were only 622,000 beef cow herds left, while the U.S. population grew by 75%.
Partly due to processing bottlenecks, the U.S. cattle herd today is at its lowest level since 1951. International meat processors learned that they can make higher profits with meat scarcity and cheaper meat imports.
It is true: HB 396 would challenge the 1967 law that can make it impossible for a farmer to sell meat after he has raised an animal, owned the land, performed the labor, borne the financial risk and found a willing customer — simply because no approved processor is available.
The 1967 amendment to the Federal Meat Inspection Act has failed Americans for decades and it is time for it to be challenged. But there are simple fixes.
To solve the meat processing conundrum, the USDA could favorably respond, for example, by providing an exemption for limited livestock processing on the farm, similar to the exemption from inspection for small poultry producers.
Explaining her veto, Ayotte referred to a letter from USDA, saying, “that they routinely provide inspection to low volume, seasonal or infrequent producers and are willing to work with local producers to meet their needs. They also noted that they “were not aware of any outstanding or unmet requests for inspection” in New Hampshire. They offered time and resources to work with the state to reduce the burden on small producers.”
This response from USDA is disingenuous. USDA knows:
- That there are only four USDA-inspected processors in New Hampshire, and they cannot process all the animals raised in the state,
- That no other facilities exist that could soon start USDA-compliant processing, even if inspectors were being provided,
- That many large processing facilities in the U.S. have closed in the last five years and
- That only one is scheduled to open east of the Mississippi soon — in Georgia — which, therefore, does not solve the bottleneck for New Hampshire farmers.
USDA lost 775 (9%) of its Food Inspection Service staff in 2025, and therefore it is
unlikely it could offer additional inspectors to any new facilities.
USDA food inspection staffing cuts were temporally associated with a 40% rise in food safety complaints to USDA in 2025 compared to 2024. Yet USDA admitted they had no complaints at all from 2010 to 2022 regarding on-farm slaughtered, uninspected meat.
Does a USDA inspection actually guarantee quality? In large meat-processing plants, three USDA inspectors will examine three regions of a cow’s carcass for an average of nine seconds each. For smaller pigs, three inspectors have only three seconds each to examine their part of the carcass and identify those that require review by a USDA veterinarian.
The bottom line is that a challenge to this unhelpful federal law is overdue, farmers need relief and consumers need access to local meat at reasonable prices. Overturning the Governor’s veto to enact HB 396 is the first, nonpartisan, necessary step to solving this problem.
Meryl Nass is an internal medicine physician based in East Kingston.