• Topics: Animal Sciences | Meat Products

Custom Exempt Red Meat and/or Poultry Slaughter Facilities in Florida¹

Several livestock and small poultry producers are trying to gain a greater portion of the available profit margin by becoming meat marketers, rather than just livestock producers. Custom exempt slaughter facilities can help facilitate the needs of niche meat marketers. Additionally, many Florida consumers aspire to buy locally raised products. A custom exempt facility is exempted from inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) because it is being paid for the service of converting a meat animal into a meat product. This exemption is described in its entirety in the Code of Federal Regulations (USDA 2003) and is discussed extensively in Carr et al. (2008b). Custom exempt poultry processing facilities have different regulations than red meat facilities (USDA 2006).

Figure 1. 

Map of Custom Exempt Livestock and/or Poultry Facilities in the State of Florida.

[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

A custom exempt red meat facility can only slaughter and process livestock for the exclusive use of the owner(s), and products cannot be sold. The facility will still be subject to periodic, risk-based inspection by USDA-FSIS. A red meat plant can simultaneously do work that is custom exempt and federally inspected, whereas a poultry plant cannot. Several of the USDA-inspected facilities listed in EDIS document AN203 (Carr et al. 2008a) also perform custom exempt slaughter. The following is a list of custom exempt livestock and/or poultry facilities in the State of Florida. The accompanying figure, titled "Map of Custom Exempt Livestock and/or Poultry Facilities in the State of Florida," identifies the location of each facility.

Literature Cited

Carr, C. C., L. E. Eubanks, & R. D. Dijkhuis. 2008a. AN203—USDA Inspected Livestock Slaughter Facilities in Florida. EDIS, UF/IFAS. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/AN/AN20300.pdf.

Carr, C. C., L. E. Eubanks, & R. D. Dijkhuis. 2008b. AN204—Custom and Retail Exempt Meat Marketing. EDIS, UF/IFAS. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/AN/AN20400.pdf.

USDA. 2003. Exemptions to Federal Meat Inspection. 9CFR303.1 Food Safety Inspection Service. Washington D.C. http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_07/9cfr303_07.html. Accessed May 23, 2008.

USDA. 2006. Guidance for Determining Whether a Poultry Slaughter or Processing Operation is Exempt from Inspection Requirements of the Poultry Products Inspection Act. Food Safety Inspection Service. Washington D.C. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/Poultry_Slaughter_Exemption_0406.pdf. Accessed May 12, 2010.

USDA. 2007. Custom Exempt Review Process. 5930 Food Safety Inspection Service. Washington D.C. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/5930.1.pdf. Accessed July 30, 2008.

Tables

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.

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