Meat sold to the public comes from a USDA-inspected plant, or a state plant with an equal program, and its label carries a fixed set of features. On the front: the product name, the inspection legend with the plant's establishment number, a handling statement such as "Keep Frozen", and the net weight. Somewhere on the label: the ingredients if there's more than one, and the name and place of business of the plant or the business it packed for. Raw meat headed for kitchens adds the safe handling instructions. Nutrition Facts are required on some products, but a business with 500 or fewer employees making 100,000 pounds or less of a product a year is exempt for that product. A label with only these features is generically approved: the plant uses it without sending it to USDA. A special claim, like grass-fed, needs USDA's approval of the label first. Meat processed under the custom exemption for the animal's owner is marked "Not for Sale" and can't be sold. In the example below, a Texas ranch checks four labels with its processor.
The short version
- Meat for sale is processed at a USDA-inspected or equal state plant.
- Front: product name, inspection legend and establishment number, handling statement, net weight.
- Ingredients when there's more than one; the name and place of business.
- Raw meat: safe handling instructions.
- Nutrition Facts: exempt for small businesses under 500 employees and 100,000 lb a year of the product.
- Mandatory features only: generically approved. A grass-fed or other special claim: USDA approves it first.
- Custom exempt meat: "Not for Sale".
- TaroStack keeps each processing date as a lot, so a recall leads to every package. More below.
What goes on a meat label
| Feature | What it says |
|---|---|
| Product name | "Ribeye Steak", "Ground Beef", "Beef Breakfast Sausage" |
| Inspection legend | The USDA mark of inspection with the establishment number |
| Handling statement | "Keep Frozen" or "Keep Refrigerated", on the front |
| Net weight | Each package's weight, on the front |
| Ingredients | When made from two or more ingredients, such as sausage |
| Name and place of business | The plant, or "Packed for" your business and its address |
| Safe handling instructions | On raw meat and raw patties for households and restaurants |
| Nutrition Facts | Where required, unless the small business exemption covers the product |
| Special claims | Grass-fed, no antibiotics and the like, approved by FSIS first |
How claims like grass-fed are documented is in grass fed label requirements, and selling the packages in selling meat at farmers market.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Required features | Product name, ingredients if two or more, name and place of business, net quantity, inspection legend and establishment number (9 CFR 317.2(c)) |
| Handling statement | "Keep Refrigerated", "Keep Frozen" or similar, prominent on the front, for perishable products (317.2(k)) |
| Safe handling | Instructions on raw meat destined for households, hotels and restaurants (317.2(l)) |
| Generic approval | Labels with all mandatory features and no special statements or claims, used without submitting them (9 CFR 412.2) |
| Nutrition exemption | 500 or fewer employees and 100,000 pounds or less of the product a year (9 CFR 317.400) |
| Custom exempt | Processed for the owner's own use and plainly marked "Not for Sale" (9 CFR 303.1(a)(2)) |
Poultry has its own parallel rules, and some states run their own inspection programs. Jerky from an inspected kitchen carries the same features, as in how to start a jerky business. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Texas ranch's labels
Colorado Bend Grassfed, a made-up cattle ranch near San Saba, Texas, has its steers processed at a USDA-inspected plant and sells frozen cuts at a Saturday market in Austin. Before the fall harvest, it checked four labels with the plant:
| Product | What the label needed | Approval |
|---|---|---|
| Ribeye Steak | Name, legend and number, Keep Frozen, net weight, packed for the ranch, safe handling | Generic |
| Ground Beef | The same; nutrition exempt under the small business exemption | Generic |
| Beef Breakfast Sausage | The same, plus ingredients: beef, salt, spices, sugar, sage | Generic |
| Ribeye Steak, 100% Grass-Fed | The ribeye's features, plus the claim | Sent to FSIS by the plant, with the ranch's records |
The halves and quarters sold as shares go through the plant's custom side for each buyer, and every package of those reads "Not for Sale". They never go to the market table. The ranch keeps each processing date as its own lot, since the plant prints the date on the label and a recall would name it.
Get the checklist
Download the meat label checklist. One sheet: each label feature down the side and each product across the top; mark yes, no or not needed, and each product shows ready or what's missing, with a row for whether it needs FSIS approval of a claim. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The labels are right. Nine hundred packages from one harvest, sold over months from two freezers and a market trailer, are a different question when a buyer calls about a package from September.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each harvest as lots and records where every package went.
Each harvest a lot. Packages back from the plant are received as lots with their processing date, by cut.
Counts with no signal. The market freezer can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the count sends itself later.
Where it went. Each sale and order records the lots it came from, and one recall report shows who got a lot and what's still in your freezers.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Packages from one harvest | A plant invoice | Lots by processing date |
| What's in the market freezer | A guess | A count on a phone, offline |
| Who bought from a harvest | Not recorded | One recall report |
| Which freezer has the ribeyes | Walk out and look | Stock by site, with transfers |
Lots, counts and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.