HR4673-119

What This Bill Does

The Save Our Bacon Act aims to protect interstate markets for livestock-derived products. Its purpose section says Congress seeks to protect the free movement of products from covered livestock, encourage a national market, prevent producers from facing a patchwork of state laws restricting national market access, and uphold international trade obligations. The bill gives covered livestock producers a federal right to raise and market their livestock in interstate commerce. It then bars states and subdivisions from directly or indirectly enacting or enforcing production conditions or standards for covered livestock except livestock physically raised in that state or subdivision. It also bars states and subdivisions from making sale or consumption of out-of-state livestock-derived products depend on production standards that are additional to or different from the standards in the state where production occurs. Covered livestock means domestic animals raised for human slaughter or for milk-derived products, including fluid milk products, but not animals raised primarily for egg production. Production means raising, including breeding, and excludes movement, harvesting, or further processing.

Who Benefits and How

Pork producers selling across state lines benefit from federal preemption of out-of-state production standards. Dairy producers benefit because milk-derived products from covered livestock receive the same interstate commerce protection. Meat processors benefit from a more uniform national market for products derived from covered livestock. Grocery retailers benefit if interstate supply chains face fewer state-by-state production conditions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State governments enforcing livestock production standards lose authority over products from livestock raised outside the state. Local governments lose parallel authority to impose different out-of-jurisdiction livestock production conditions. Animal welfare regulators face federal limits when standards affect interstate sale of out-of-state livestock products. Consumers favoring stricter livestock production standards may lose state-level market rules for out-of-state products.

Key Provisions

• Provides a federal right for covered livestock producers to raise and market livestock in interstate commerce.
• Prohibits state or local production standards for covered livestock not physically raised in the jurisdiction.
• Prohibits sale or consumption conditions on out-of-state livestock products that differ from production-state standards.
• Defines covered livestock to include animals raised for slaughter or milk-derived products and exclude egg-production animals.
• Defines production as raising or breeding rather than movement, harvesting, or further processing.