Federal Poultry exemptions

[mdbokc]

Yep, the state Dept of Agriculture will make or break you. And if you are found in violation of how they apply the regs, the penalties are very stiff. At least that is the case here.

 

[feetsoup]

Kim, I might be moving to NC when I'm finally in a position to buy land and really go all-out farming. How hard was it generally to meet the regulations and requirements? It is expensive?

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
It only applies to meat you want to sell. You can butcher anything you want for personal use, unregulated.

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
If you don't want to be a slaughter house (such as for beef/pork for retail sale), then it's very INexpensive. Our meat handlers license cost nothing, even for the Dept of Agr Inspector to come here, spend time with us, etc - as mentioned above, that allows us to take our beef/pork to a licensed slaughter house for processing then transport it back here, store it frozen, sell here & and take to farmers markets, etc.

We can sell up to 30 dozen table/eating eggs per week, unregulated, no cost.

To sell hatching eggs or chicks, licenses are required, $10.00 for the eggs, another $10 for the chicks, very easy to qualify. NPIP testing for poultry flocks is available, $50/hr for state lab. Recommended but not required. You are required to keep records of how many you sell, and receipts from hatcheries etc for 'incoming' live poultry for resale.

Again, you can slaughter & sell up to 1000 total poultry per year, no cost. As with the hatching eggs/chicks, you are required to keep records of how many you sell.

ETA:
For eating/table eggs, you are also required to label them with farm name & contact info, and whether they are graded or not. If unwashed, your label must say so.

Overall, it's fairly easy to do business here. We also have an inspected kitchen. The Dept of Agriculture folks could not be more helpful. All of our dealings with them have been positive.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[oldsoftie]

Armyman, I think that this requires a two pronged answer. I am also from Indiana. I looked into this a while back, and it is murky, at best, and I'm not sure I've got it right. From what I could tell, if you process for hire, either their birds, or your birds to sell to them, you are subject to state or local health inspections to make sure processing and cleanliness standards being met, no matter how many birds you process. If you exceed the threshholds, and there are different threshholds for different types of situations, then you are required to have state or Federal inspectors on-site as you process (and from what I understand, you also pay for that), and they inspect the quality of the birds being processed, as well as making sure processing and cleanliness standards are being maintained.

I tried to find a definitive answer on the Ind website, and if I remember correctly, it said to contact the Indiana Dept of Agriculture.

Hope this helps.

 

[BirchHatchery]

im from indiana we have nothing that u have to pay have inspected for live birds i do it all the time i can sell as many eggs as i want from my farm wihtout inspection but i dk about the chicken meat im trien to find that answer also

 

[feetsoup]

Thanks for the info, Kim!