When it comes to poultry processing in the USA, backyard poultry owners ask questions like “Am I allowed to process my poultry?”, and “Can I sell the poultry I process?”, and “Can I process poultry for others?”. Let me try to answer these questions.
First, a little history. Prior to 1957, there were no federal laws governing the continuous inspection of poultry processing. P.L. 90-492 was passed as the Wholesome Poultry Products Act, but it created exemptions for people who weren’t commercial processors. There are several exemptions, but the two that apply to most backyard poultry owners are the Personal Use exemption and the Producer/Grower Under 1000 exemption.
Personal Use Exemption. This allows you to process your poultry for your personal use. There is no limit, but again, it’s for your family’s personal use. Under this exemption, you are not allowed to sell the poultry you process.
Producer/Grower Under 1000 Exemption. This allows you to process your poultry and sell to others. As the exemption title states, you can only process less than 1000 poultry. There are a few other requirements for this exemption, including:
- Process only poultry that you raised
- Do not buy or sell poultry products, other than poultry you grew
- Process on your property
- Sell only within your state
- On the label, include your name, address, and “Exempt P.L. 90-492”
- Include Safe Handling Instructions with illustrations on the label (Figure 1 below)
- Keep records of sales and processing (date & how many)
In Ohio, state law (ORC 918.27) amends the Producer/Grower Under 1000 exemption to add that a person may not buy any live poultry (meaning adult birds), and that you may sell to a Hotel, Restaurant, Institution, or individual for personal use. These groups are unique because they are the end user (they cook the poultry), vs. a grocery store that resells the raw poultry.
These exemptions are granted to you, so you don’t have to ask permission or inform anyone. However, there are some common-sense requirements to adhere to, including:
- Slaughter only healthy poultry
- Process using sanitary procedures
- Label poultry properly
- Do not include the USDA (or state Dept of Ag) inspection mark
- Operate under only 1 exemption per year
Can you process for others? You’ll want to check with your state Department of Agriculture. There is an exemption called the Custom Slaughter/Processing Exemption. While the federal requirements are straightforward, some states (like Ohio) further legislate this as a licensed activity, mandating facility requirements, health inspections, waste disposal, and blood collection requirements. These additional requirements make it difficult and costly to operate under this exemption, resulting in few custom processors. Because of the shortage of custom processors, if you are thinking about raising poultry to stock your freezer, and you don’t want to process them yourself, make sure you find a local (legal) processor with capacity before you buy the chicks, or be prepared to process them yourself!
Before you agree to process for others, check with your state Department of Agriculture. Also, state Departments of Agriculture have their own enforcement staff (“regulation police”), and they scan social media to find unlicensed processors. So if you are processing for others without a required license and advertising about it, you’ll eventually get a knock on the door. You may get a warning; you may get a fine.
A USDA document titled “Guidance for Determining Whether a Poultry Slaughter or Processing Operation is Exempt from Inspection Requirements of the Poultry Products Inspection Act” is a good reference resource, and can be found at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/import/Poultry_Slaughter_Exemption_0406.pdf. Keep in mind that this is a federal document, and your state probably has added laws and restrictions. If you have questions about unique or complicated situations, you’ll want to check with your state’s Department of Agriculture. They are there to help you!
This article was written from my own research in an attempt to explain legal requirements in easy-to-understand language. It is intended to help you, but is not a legal opinion. If you believe there are inaccuracies in this article AND you have legal references, I want to know!