U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann and Steve Womack recently introduced legislation that would prevent the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from using federal funds to implement its proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella in raw poultry products.
Mann, R-Kansas, is the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry and Womack, R-Arkansas, is the chairman of the Congressional Chicken Caucus.
A press release from Mann’s office said that the proposed framework, introduced during Joe Biden’s presidential administration, could put producers out of business and drive-up costs for consumers. The two Republican lawmakers say that the proposed framework is not science-based, and it also disregards data from USDA that found Salmonella outbreaks have decreased 60% since 2020 and that more than 97% of whole chickens tested negative for Salmonella as recently as 2022.
“American families have been clear about the weight that skyrocketing food prices and inflation have had on their ability to put food on their tables.” said Rep. Mann. “Rather than coming up with real solutions to drive down costs and make life easier for Americans, President Biden dug his heels deeper in his war on rural America with costly, burdensome regulations. My bill blocks USDA from using taxpayer dollars to implement arbitrary science to burden American families, and it protects America’s livestock producers who work day in and day out to feed a hungry world.”
“The Biden Administration’s proposed Salmonella Framework places burdensome, unnecessary testing requirements on our nation’s poultry producers,” added Womack. “This leads to higher costs at the grocery store for consumers. I'm proud to help Congressman Mann introduce this bill to prevent federal funding from being used to implement this ludicrous regulatory requirement.”
The bill has the support of the National Chicken Council.
In March 2024, Rep. Mann urged former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to consider the impact of the framework on consumers and poultry producers.
