certified to sell meat?

[Reed77]

I'm still learning about processing laws and how everything works. I have been told there are laws prohibiting people from processing their own livestock for meat and selling it to the public without proper certification. My question is, how can I become certified to process and sell meat to people? I've been told that there must do a USDA licensed person present when processing, is this true?

[Ronney]

Reed, I live in a completely different part of the world but from reading on here and other sites, laws surrounding the sale of meat seem to be fairly universal - and the cost and hoops to be jumped through just don't make it worthwhile for most. To kill and process on your own property will cost you an arm and a leg.

I can truck my beef to a registered abbatoir, have the meat inspected by a government appointed meat inspector, processed, packed and put on a refridgerated truck to wherever - and by the time I've paid for all of that, I may as well have chucked the animal into a bloody big hole. I send some of my stock to the works, some I sell as freezer beasts. Either way, I'm not paying out money for a heap of compliance costs and none of the hassle that goes with it. I get what the animal was worth on the hoof, the works pay for the trucking and inspection, I pay a levy towards TB testing, end of story.

I'm sure you will get heaps more advice from people in the States, some for, some against but do your homework carefully.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[Reed77]

I was also thinking I'd do it for other people too. the killing and processing (locally only)

[RedDirt Cowgirl]

We'd all like to direct market beef, but the feds have us by the short hairs there. There's some that are doing it, finding them on the internet doesn't happen, I still have to do some sniffing out.* Cooperatives seem to be the way. I suspect folks are keeping the secrets of their hard-won success close to the vest.

That said, there's sort of an underground, not to say covert, business happening among friends and neighbors. Getting the stuff properly frozen is the trick, no big deal to butcher and hang. I suppose you could do small animals fresh if you had enough takers. Forget about farmer's markets unless you are licensed up, it's a quick trip to the jailhouse. The fees at the smaller packing operations almost take the economics out of taking a steer for yourself, but that's how people are doing casual sales. You bring in a live animal, take pickup/delivery of it (getting it back in lots is another stumbling block), and make the sale yourself. If you know for sure you have healthy stock, you shouldn't run into any problems, but you're still trusting yourself lock stock and barrell to your buyer, God forbid some crazed relative or caregiver get wind of it and raise a stink, your ass would be grass. Same thing if you were selling to someone who resold, or started serving it out of their restaurant, or more likely a burger/taco wagon making the fairs circuit. Bad joojoo, like growing a little pot on your place, it's generally not considered worth the risk.

I've mentioned before, there's more consumer demand for grass-fed now than the market seems to sustain. (I was so shocked to see grass-fed hamburg on sale in the Raley's supermarket branded as a California product, but when you read the small print it actually came from Australia!) Something smells in Denmark...

I'd love to hear any success stories.

*Reed77, some people are doing it in Placer county, but it's been hard for me to catch hold of any details. The Cattlemen's Association is a cruel joke.

[springvalley]

I find selling beef and pork very worth while, we take our beef to the processing plant. They butcher, weigh, cut, wrap, and freeze, and I call my customer and tell them it`s ready to be picked up. They cut me a check or cash and go pick up the meat. In order to sell cuts of meat in our county we need to have the packaging done differant, get a broker licence, and have a freezer for each type of meat. We make a good profit, processor makes a profit, and customer gets quality meat as cheep as they can buy it in the store. Having all the equipment to do it myself, and have the inspector come everyday is not profitable right now. Thanks > Marc

[oregon woodsmok]

To get licensed to sell to the public, you have the USDA veterinarian inspect your processing plant. He will then license it, if it meets all the criteria.

He'll be by often to inspect the plant and the animal's that you are running through.

I suspect that if you contact the federal vet, he can tell you what the inspection involves.

[haypoint]

Meeting USDA standards to process and sell to the public will cost tens of thousands or dollars. You’d need to process hundreds of animals to make it worth the investment to process farmer owned meat, not for resale. It was my understanding that a USDA inspector had to be on site for each killing.

As is true of most things, there is a way around it. You sell a finished hog to two customers. Then you take THEIR pig to be butchered. When it is done, each owner takes their half from the slaughterhouse. This way you aren’t selling meat to the public, just transporting someone else’s animal. Find four buyers for a cow and take their cow to the slaughterhouse. Avoids the health requirements.

I think there is a large live chicken retail shop in Minneapolis, MN. They sell you a live chicken and then you can pay them to butcher it. Avoids all the regulations/inspections with butchering and selling processed chicken.

Just like the illegal sale of raw milk becomes sort of legal (not without possible court battles) when you don’t sell the milk, but sell the cow in several shares and then give the owners their portion of the cow’s production.

There are also major differences from state to state, depending on each state’s rules.

[PamB]

I take beef and have it processed where it is federally inspected and stamped, I have had no problems selling it at the farmer's mkt here. it is frozen and I make sure I have it in a thick sided cooler with a thermometer in it. I called the state and reading the info from them its legal to do this as long as its processed in licensed/inspected facility. here in MI an inspector must be there the day it is killed. chickens are a bit different you can process up to a certain number, can't remember what it is, but its in the thousands, and not be licensed, not exactly sure of all the regs for chicken, we don't do a lot, but do turkeys and haven't had any problems-we do fresh at Thanksgiving when we do turkeys.
there is a neighbor here, I don't know if he is licensed at all but he processes beef/pigs/chickens for customers.
our nieghbor does deer processing, don't know if he is licensed or anything either.
We also sell quarters, halves and whole beef and the buyer pays the processing and a seperate payment to us.
Yes, each state is different.

[SteveO]

Anyone have a clue waht the regs are in TN??????
Steve

[Gabriel]

There is a state level inspection that allows the butcher to process your animal. The federal inspection allows you to have your animal processed and sell that meat to individuals, by the cut and also across state lines. It can be hard to find a federally inspected plant though. Do what was suggested and pre-sell the animal to several customers.