Guidance for Determining Whether a Poultry Slaughter orProcessing Operation is Exempt from Inspection Requirementsof the Poultry Products Inspection Act
Introduction
An increasing number of small poultry producers, also called “growers,” areraising, slaughtering, and processing their poultry on their farms and sellingthe poultry directly to customers at the farms or at farmers’ markets. Some of these small producers are going further by building processing facilities withthe intent of supplying local customers, including household consumers,retail stores, restaurants, boarding houses, and institutions. Other producersand businesses are building processing plants to supply poultry that meetsspecial religious dietary requirements such as Kosher and Halaal or (Halal),and niche markets, such as organically grown poultry and live poultrymarkets.At some point, a grower or business that plans to or has made the decision tosell poultry that he or she slaughters or processes will face the question “Can Isell the poultry that I slaughter or process, without inspection by the Federalor State government?” The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of theDepartment of Agriculture (USDA) created this guide to help small businessesand poultry producers who slaughter or process poultry for human food todetermine whether the slaughter or processing operations at their businessesare eligible for exemption from Federal or State inspection. In other words,this guide is helpful to producers or businesses in determining whether theirslaughter or processing operations require USDA or State inspection, asmandated in the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA).In addition, this guidance material can serve as a quick reference for Federaland State inspection personnel who have questions about whether a poultryoperation qualifies for a exemption in the PPIA. This guidance does notaddress exemptions related to livestock product (e.g., meat from cattle, swine,sheep, goat, and equine) because the Federal Meat Inspection Act does notprovide exemptions similar to those provided in the Poultry ProductsInspection Act. In addition, this guidance material does not addressexemptions requirements where State Laws may be different from those in thePPIA and FSIS/USDA regulations. The 1957 Wholesome Poultry Products Act (Public Law 90 – 492), which iscommonly referred to as the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA)
waspassed by Congress to ensure that only wholesome poultry that is not
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