A meat product sold to stores, restaurants or online, jerky, sausage, smoked meats, has to be made under inspection, federal or state, and carry the inspection legend. For a small maker there are four ways to get there: its own grant of federal inspection, an inspected co-packer or shared kitchen that makes it under that plant's number, state inspection where the state runs a program, for sales within the state, or, for a butcher selling only at its own counter, the retail exemption. A grant of inspection is the biggest step: an application, written Sanitation SOPs, a hazard analysis and HACCP plan for each process, labels with every required feature, and a plant that meets the sanitation standards. In the example below, a jerky maker in a shared inspected kitchen works through what its own grant would take. Below are the routes, what a grant needs, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Meat products sold beyond your own retail counter are made under inspection and carry the inspection legend.
- Routes: your own grant; an inspected co-packer or shared kitchen; state inspection; the retail exemption.
- A grant starts with an application to FSIS.
- Sanitation SOPs: written daily procedures, signed and dated, with daily records.
- A hazard analysis for each process, and a HACCP plan for hazards reasonably likely to occur.
- Labels carry every mandatory feature; most use generic approval, special claims need FSIS approval.
- The retail exemption covers cutting, grinding, curing and smoking for sale to your own customers in normal amounts.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's readings on its batch record, and the meat lots it used. More below.
The routes
| Route | Who it suits | Where it can sell |
|---|---|---|
| Own grant of federal inspection | A maker with its own plant, ready to run under inspection | Anywhere, with the inspection legend |
| An inspected co-packer or shared kitchen | A maker not ready for its own plant | Anywhere, under that plant's establishment number |
| State inspection | A maker selling in its own state, where the state runs a program | Within the state, unless the plant ships interstate under a state-federal program |
| Retail exemption | A butcher or store selling to consumers at its own counter | Its own retail customers, in normal retail quantities |
| Custom exempt | Processing for an animal's owner | Nowhere: "Not for Sale" |
The retail exemption covers what retail stores and restaurants have traditionally done, cutting carcasses into retail cuts, grinding, curing, cooking and smoking, but not slaughter or retort canning, for sale to consumers at that establishment in normal retail quantities, with half a carcass as the limit for one buyer (9 CFR 303.1(d)). It doesn't cover selling the same jerky to other stores. This is general information, not legal advice.
What a grant of inspection needs
| Need | Rule |
|---|---|
| An application on FSIS's form, with the trade names for labels | 9 CFR 304.1 |
| Sanitation SOPs describing daily procedures before and during operations, signed and dated by the person in charge | 9 CFR 416.12 |
| Daily records of the Sanitation SOPs and corrective actions | 9 CFR 416.16 |
| A hazard analysis for each process, and a HACCP plan for the hazards reasonably likely to occur | 9 CFR 417.2 |
| Supporting documentation and records for the HACCP plan | 9 CFR 417.5 |
| A plant that meets the sanitation performance standards: building, water, sewage, pests | 9 CFR 416.2 |
| Labels with every mandatory feature; generic approval, or FSIS approval for special statements and claims | 9 CFR 412.2 |
Generic approval means a label that shows every mandatory feature, and isn't false or misleading, can be used without sending it to FSIS first; FSIS samples them later. Labels with special claims still go to FSIS. The hazard analysis considers hazards before, during and after a product enters the plant.
An example: a jerky maker's own grant
Cedar Hollow Jerky, a made-up jerky maker in Bozeman, Montana, I use in these examples, makes beef and venison jerky and meat sticks in a shared inspected kitchen, under the kitchen's establishment number. It's growing into its own space and works through what a grant would take:
| Need | Where Cedar Hollow stands |
|---|---|
| Application | Drafted, with "Cedar Hollow Jerky" as the trade name |
| Sanitation SOPs | Written and signed October 1: pre-op cleaning of the slicer and smokehouse, hand washing, sanitizer strength |
| Hazard analysis and HACCP plan | Heat-treated, shelf-stable products: heating and drying as critical control points |
| Supporting documentation | A validation study for its heating and drying steps, on file |
| Plant standards | Water potability letter requested from the city |
| Labels | Drafted with the product name, ingredients, net weight, the maker's name and address, the establishment number, and nutrition facts where required |
The HACCP plan is the same one it runs today in the shared kitchen, so most of the work is the building, the Sanitation SOPs and a daily routine that an inspector can verify; the forms behind it are in HACCP record keeping form example. How Cedar Hollow prices its jerky is in how to price homemade jerky, and its whole plan in beef jerky business plan.
Get the checklist
Download the USDA meat inspection checklist. Two sheets: the routes, who each suits and where it can sell; and what a grant of inspection needs, each with its rule, a column for your status, and a tick. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Under inspection, every batch has a record: the smokehouse temperature and humidity, the water activity at the end of drying, the Sanitation SOP checks before the shift, and the lot of beef it started from. Kept on paper, those records fill a binder a week, and an inspector asks to see them any day.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's readings on its batch record, and the meat lots it used.
Readings on the batch record. Fields of your own on the batch record, numbers, tick boxes and initials, hold the heating temperature, the water activity and the label check, and printable batch-record forms carry the same fields for the smokehouse. They're the records you keep, not a promise of compliance.
Beef lot to jerky lot. A batch of jerky takes its beef, marinade and bags off stock, records the lots it consumed, including the supplier's lot and establishment number in a field of your own, and gets a lot of its own.
From lot to store. Each order records the lots each customer got as it ships, and a lot on hold is kept out of what can be sold, so one recall report shows which stores have a lot and what's still on your shelves.
| The job | Binder | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Smokehouse and drying readings | Log sheets | Fields on the batch record |
| Which beef lot went in | The supplier's invoice | Recorded automatically |
| A lot held for review | A tag on the box | A hold on the lot |
| Which stores got a lot | Search the invoices | One recall report |
Batches, batch records with fields of your own, holds, lots 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.