Small Processors Action Plan
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This month Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the launch of the Small Processors Action Plan. The new set of actions is intended to better support small meat and poultry processing plants, improve customer service, and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens. Food Safety Under Secretary Mindy Brashears explains the three pillars of the plan.
Brashears… “ We really want to have a dedicated support for our small and very small processors, so they know that they have very specific points of contact within the agency, and also they need timely answers. So now they're going to have their own system where they can track that appeal, know where it is, or even a question, and they're not just really waiting in the dark. When you're working in food safety and with a regulatory agency, some things can get very complex. We're going to make sure our notices and directives are written so that they're not so much on the legal or technical side. They're still going to get the information, but we'll provide them with summaries that are easy to understand and that they can implement. Streamlining the process is really involving a number of different areas to make sure that we meet their needs and that they get all the resources they can at the government level.”
The USDA wants to support these small processors while still maintaining strong food safety protections for consumers.
