The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday will release a new but stripped-down antitrust rule regulating meat companies that’s far less sweeping than initial reforms that ran into strong opposition from businesses and Congress.
The proposal will allow establishments to label a broader range of products without first submitting the label to FSIS for approval, should it become final.
The USDA said that if Congress does not provide enough money for enforcing a new, sweeping antitrust rule for meat companies, it will abandon portions of the rule.
It has been a little over 40 years since Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act, the major amendments to the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on December 15, 1967.