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SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 29

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

John Pinto

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LIVESTOCK BOARD TO HELP RETAIN SMALL

BUSINESSES IN COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND PRESERVE

TRADITIONAL PRACTICES OF NATIVE AMERICAN AND HISPANIC

COMMUNITIES BY TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION CULTURAL AND

TRADITIONAL PRACTICES IN ADOPTING REGULATIONS FOR MEAT

INSPECTION AND SLAUGHTERHOUSES.

WHEREAS, New Mexico has a diverse and culturally rich

population, and in New Mexico, regulators and regulatory

systems have the unique duty to be aware of the cultural

practices of the communities that are under their regulatory

control; and

WHEREAS, regulation of livestock and meat inspection is

the duty of the New Mexico livestock board; and

WHEREAS, many livestock and meat inspection regulators

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have no knowledge of or hold in disdain the traditional

practices that help to maintain the continuity and cohesiveness

of Native American and Hispanic traditional communities in the

state; and

WHEREAS, many people in traditional or rural communities

still raise livestock for personal consumption, but due to the

changes faced by traditional communities, more and more Native

American and Hispanic people rely on commercial ventures to

provide them with traditional foods; and

WHEREAS, a large segment of the population of New Mexico

has traditions that must be preserved if the heritage, culture

and spiritual practices of the long-term residents of New

Mexico are to remain vibrant and meaningful and continue into

the future; and

WHEREAS, food and food preparation are basic to

maintaining many belief systems and the traditional practices

of both the Hispanic population and the Native American

population of New Mexico and include rich and important

practices involving the raising, blessing, harvesting and

consumption of animals; and

WHEREAS, slaughtering of animals has for centuries been a

community activity that in the last hundred years changed to a

job of a community member who knew the culturally appropriate

way to raise and prepare animals for ceremonial or community

use, and now in many cases falls to a butcher or slaughterhouse

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operator; and

WHEREAS, very few of these community businesses remain to

carry on the traditional knowledge of the appropriate way and

the respectful attitude required to harvest animals for

cultural and traditional activities such as feasts, ceremonies,

matanzas and other community gatherings; and

WHEREAS, the practices are viewed many times by regulators

as conflicting with health and safety standards for the

slaughtering and releasing of prepared animals to owners for

personal consumption; and

WHEREAS, the New Mexico livestock board must follow the

regulations of the United States department of agriculture, and

these regulations many times appear to conflict with the

traditions of meat preparation that are basic beliefs of Native

American and Hispanic traditionalists; and

WHEREAS, regulators from the New Mexico livestock board

have some latitude in interpreting regulations and in some

cases may interpret the regulations more stringently than

necessary, while in other cases appear to fall below the

standards expected of them by the United States department of

agriculture; and

WHEREAS, Native Americans and Hispanic communities are

interested in cooperating with and negotiating an understanding

with the New Mexico livestock board to help small custom

slaughterhouses or butchers remain in business, providing a

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much-needed service to people who raise their own livestock and

need to have the animals processed in a culturally appropriate

and traditional manner; and

WHEREAS, as regulations governing the slaughter of animals

have become more and more sophisticated and farther removed

from the traditional values and practices that support the

cultures of New Mexico, it is clear that lack of communication

about and respect for values that are not shared makes

regulation difficult, and many times makes the continued

existence of these small businesses questionable; and

WHEREAS, small butchers and slaughterhouses are

disappearing from traditional communities in many cases due to

the expense of implementing regulations and the regulators'

expectations that to remain in business a butcher will purchase

sophisticated equipment and maintain detailed records that

require sophisticated information technology; and

WHEREAS, requirements that exceed a small butcher's or

slaughterhouse operator's capacity to implement many times are

actually targeted at large meatpacking operations that obtain

their animals from feedlots, and these requirements are not

necessarily required to protect the health of the public when a

slaughterhouse operation is small; and

WHEREAS, Native American spiritual leaders and those in

the community who harvest and prepare animals for consumption

for traditional purposes are interested in beginning a dialogue

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with the New Mexico livestock board to discover common ground

that will allow traditions, ceremonies and age-old community

practices to continue, while satisfying those necessary health

and safety concerns of the regulators and allowing small

butchering and slaughterhouse businesses to prosper and serve a

great need in these traditional communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico livestock board be

urged to begin a dialogue with leaders of traditional Native

American and Hispanic communities to discuss the potential for

working together to develop better communication and to provide

better understanding of the needs of both the traditional

community leaders and the regulators pertaining to the

butchering or slaughter of animals in traditional ways for

feasts, ceremonies and community gatherings; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico livestock board

and the proprietors of small slaughterhouses and butchering

operations that provide meat and slaughtered animals for

consumption for traditional Native American feasts and

ceremonies, Hispanic community matanzas and other traditional

community gatherings and celebrations work together to sustain

these small businesses to promote the traditions and cultures

of New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico livestock board

work with Native American traditional spiritual leaders and

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proprietors of operations that butcher or slaughter animals for

consumption at feasts, ceremonies, Hispanic community matanzas

and other traditional gatherings to address regulatory

restrictions of the United States department of agriculture

that are impeding the operation of these small businesses and

slowly destroying the underlying traditions of the cultures of

New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico livestock board

report on its progress in developing better communication and

establishing an ongoing dialogue to the appropriate legislative

interim committee no later than September 1, 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the governor, the president of the Navajo

Nation, the chair of the all Indian pueblo council and the New

Mexico livestock board.

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