The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the state of Iowa have finalized a Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) agreement.  It allows state-inspected meat and poultry products to be shipped across state lines.

The agreement was reviewed and approved by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) during an 11-month period and will allow the the state to operate a CIS program that permits certain Iowa-inspected meat and poultry processors to ship their products to other states.

Traditionally only federally-inspected meat and poultry is allowed into interstate commerce,  but the CIS program allows state-inspected products to be shipped across state lines if they’ve followed certain federal protocols.

The CIS program promotes the expansion of business opportunities for state-inspected meat and poultry establishments. Under CIS, state-inspected plants can operate as federally inspected facilities, under specific conditions, and ship their product beyond their state’s borders.

The CIS program is limited to plants located in the 27 states that have established a Meat and Poultry Inspection Program (MPI) and maintain “at least equal to” FSIS regulatory standards. The assigned state inspectors under the “at least equal to” program will remain as the plants’ onsite inspectors, provided they have the same training, and inspect the plant under “the same” regulatory standards as their federal counterparts in FSIS-inspected plants.

The FSIS provides ongoing oversight of the CIS program to ensure that participating states maintain and operate their “same as” programs in a manner that complies with all applicable federal statutes and regulations and follows FSIS directives and notices. FSIS also verifies that selected establishments in the CIS participating state remain eligible to participate in the CIS program.

The CIS program was created by the 2008 Farm Bill and since then, FSIS also has signed agreements with Indiana, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

According to FSIS, the Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) program promotes the expansion of business opportunities for state-inspected meat and poultry establishments.

Under CIS, state-inspected plants can operate as federally-inspected facilities, under specific conditions, and ship their product in interstate commerce and internationally. Without CIS, a state-inspected plant is limited to sales within its own borders even if an adjoining state is just across the highway or river.

The CIS program is limited to plants located in the 27 states that have established a Meat and Poultry Inspection Program (MPI) and maintain “at least equal to” FSIS regulatory standards.

One major CIS benefit is that a state plant’s day-to-day operations do not drastically or materially change.  The assigned state inspectors under the “at least equal to” program will remain as the plant’s onsite inspectors, provided they have the same training and inspect the plant under the same regulatory standards as their federal counterparts in FSIS-inspected plants.

Another economic benefit is that CIS plants, in addition to selling products across state lines and via online mail order outside of the state, are eligible to export.  States without a CIS program cannot participate in export opportunities.