WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a Cooperative Interstate Shipment or CIS agreement with the State of Vermont.
As per the deal, Vermont is allowed to operate a CIS program, with which certain state-inspected meat and poultry processors can ship their products across state lines, and expand their business opportunities.
The FSIS noted that the CIS program permits certain state-inspected plants that comply with federal inspection requirements to ship their product in interstate commerce.
The program was created by the 2008 Farm Bill and since then, FSIS has agreed with many states including Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
For participation in the program, FSIS selects establishments, which employ fewer than 25 employees, based on the state's recommendations. These businesses must comply with all the requirements under the federal statutes, including sanitation performance standards.
The program is limited to plants located in the 27 states that have established a Meat and Poultry Inspection Program or MPI.
'To be eligible to participate in the CIS program, state MPI programs must meet a number of criteria to demonstrate that the inspection that it provides to state-inspected plants will be the 'same as' the inspection that FSIS provides to official federal establishments,' the agency said in its statement.
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