New Mexico hasn’t had a state meat inspection program since 2007, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture took it over due to “repetitive noncompliance with federal standards,” according to a 2021 legislative report. After federal inspections got backlogged during the pandemic, state lawmakers began efforts to reinstate New Mexico’s program. Proposals to make that happen have failed to clear both chambers of the Legislature four years in a row now, but this year’s bill still has a chance of reaching the governor’s desk.