USDA has changed its plans for developing a meat and poultry equipment certification program.  The proposed program was mandated by the 1999 appropriations bill and requires that the new service be developed by the Agricultural Marketing Service as a voluntary user fee program.

The AMS livestock and seed program now will work jointly with the dairy program since the dairy program assumes responsibility for technical development and operation of the program.  AMS also says the dairy program has extensive technical expertise and many years of experience working with domestic and international standards organizations and equipment manufacturers for milk processing equipment.

That expertise will be used to develop a new service for meat and poultry processing equipment.