1.\u00a0Selling the Live Animal Directly to Consumers as \u201cFreezer Meat\u201d Under the Custom Exemption<\/p>\n
There is a very important exemption from federal inspection for livestock producers that market
\nfreezer lamb, beef, goat, and hog. This is the \u201ccustom exemption\u201d which allows the owner of an
\nanimal to slaughter the animal himself\/herself or deliver it to a custom exempt slaughterhouse for
\nslaughter and processing. The meat and byproducts cannot be sold. Instead, their use is limited to
\nthe owner\u2019s household and nonpaying guests and employees.<\/p>\n
In New York, it is assumed that a person owns an animal when they purchase it. Thus, a
\ncustomer can purchase a lamb, goat, steer or hog from a farm or live animal market, take
\nownership of it, and either slaughter it themselves or arrange for slaughter and processing
\nthrough a custom slaughterhouse.<\/p>\n
The customer does not have to pick out the animal himself or herself. Instead, the farmer or
\ncustom slaughterhouse operator may select an animal for them after receiving the customer\u2019s
\norder for a live animal or portion thereof. The farm owner or custom slaughterhouse operator
\nmay act as an agent for the owner and arrange transportation of the animals or carcasses.
\n\u201cFreezer\u201d animals may be priced for sale by the head or by the pound (live weight). The weight
\nof the animal, or a portion thereof, must be determined on a certified scale if the animal is sold
\nby weight. If a certified scale is not available, then the animal can only be sold by the head or
\nportion.<\/p>\n
Cutting orders must be directed by the owner of the animal. The animal must be identified
\nthroughout the slaughter and processing operation as belonging to that particular customer. The
\ncustom slaughterhouse and any agents for the owner are required to have the name and contact
\ninformation of the customer.<\/p>\n
Although there is no official inspection of the live animal or carcass, all animals slaughtered
\nunder custom exemption must be unadulterated (i.e. fit for human consumption). The meat must
\nbe stamped \u2018not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farmers can advertise that they offer freezer meat for sale, but must have an agreement that
\nshows that the animal or the portions were sold in advance of slaughter. \u201cFreezer meat\u201d is not the
\nsame as USDA inspected retail cuts, and individual \u201cfreezer meat\u201d cuts cannot be sold by the
\nfarmer.<\/p>\n
As in several other states, New York State officials interpret the custom exemption to allow a
\nfarmer to pre-sell portions of the live animal. This interpretation allows the farmer to sell halves
\nor quarters\u2014down to 1\/16ths–of a market animal prior to slaughtering among a given number of
\nindividuals. If halves or quarters are sold prior to slaughter, the new owners can agree to send
\nthat animal to custom slaughter, but only if all agree that the meat will be used for their own
\npersonal consumption. Cutting instructions should be provided by each owner.<\/p>\n
In some cases, New York custom slaughterhouse owners will allow customers to slaughter their
\nown animals and bring the carcass in for further processing. It is best to talk with the
\nowner\/operator of the facility to see what he or she will allow and whether they require the
\nanimal to be skinned and quartered before being accepted for further processing. Many custom
\nslaughterhouse operators prefer to come directly to the farm to slaughter swine and cattle. The
\noperator will then transport the carcasses in as sanitary a manner as practical to their custom
\nmeat plant for further processing. Sheep and goats are generally butchered on the meat plant\u2019s
\nkill floor but can also be slaughtered on-farm by the custom operator. Again, it is best to call well
\nahead of desired slaughter\/processing dates to discuss these arrangements.<\/p>\n
It is important to note that some states take a strict interpretation of the custom exemption and
\nconsider the owner of the animal to only be the person who actually raised it. Therefore, it is
\nvery important that custom red meat from amenable species never show up in commercial or
\nretail outlets in order to assure New York officials that our state\u2019s slightly broader interpretation
\nof the custom exemption poses few health risks.<\/p>\n
For more information on selling live slaughter animals on and off the farm, see Section
\nXVII.A \u201cDirect Marketing Live Animals.\u201d See also USDA-FSIS, FSIS Guideline for
\nDetermining Whether a Livestock Slaughter or Processing Firm is Exempt from the
\nInspection Requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act 2017, pp. 4-7, May 24,
\n2018, https:\/\/www.fsis.usda.gov\/wps\/wcm\/connect\/16a88254-adc5-48fb-b24c
\n3ea0b133c939\/Compliance-Guideline-LIvestock-Exemptions.pdf?MOD=AJPERES<\/p>\n
2. On-Site Slaughter for Entire Animals Sold Live<\/p>\n
In New York, the farmer can also allow the customer to slaughter and process the animal on the
\nfarmer\u2019s land. Farmers may not help the new owner with butchering unless the farmer has a
\ncustom exempt operator\u2019s license. The exception to this is in cases where the animal is not
\nsuccessfully killed and the farmer must intercede to prevent animal suffering.<\/p>\n
A sanitary 3-sided shed with a drain to an approved sanitary system has been recommended by
\nsome inspectors, although it is not required. Substantial liability insurance may also be advised.
\nHowever, some farmers have reported difficulties when disclosing to insurance companies that
\nthey permit consumers to butcher on-farm.<\/p>\n
Resources related to on-farm butchering are provided in a later chapter.
\nA helpful poster illustrating humane and halal on-farm slaughter was produced by the
\nNortheast Sheep and Goat Marketing Program of Cornell University. See Northeast
\nSheep and Goat Marketing Program, Humane (Halal) On-Farm Slaughter of Sheep and
\nGoats, http:\/\/www.sheepgoatmarketing.info\/images\/HumaneSlaughter.pdf.<\/p>\n
a) Offal Disposal and On-Farm Composting<\/p>\n
Offal disposal is a major consideration with on-site slaughter. In New York, on-site composting
\nof offal is legal and exempt from regulations on composting facilities, provided that the
\ncomposting is properly done.92 Thus, a permit is not needed to operate an on-farm composting
\nfacility for carcasses from on-site slaughter.93 Restrictions exist, though, on the number of
\ncarcasses from off-site sources that be composted.94<\/p>\n
For more information on NY\u2019s regulations on on-farm composting, see Organic
\nRecycling Facilities and Regulations, N.Y. State Department of Environmental
\nConservation, https:\/\/www.dec.ny.gov\/chemical\/98069.html. Please note, the direct link
\nto the actual NYS composting regulations is too long to share here.<\/p>\n
To properly compost offal, a farmer should use a high carbon substrate (such as wood shavings
\nor straw) that will prevent any potential contamination of water sources. New York State
\nregulations in Part 360 of Title 6 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, which include
\nthe regulations governing the composting of offal, are currently being revised as of summer
\n2019. The revised regulations will likely address methods of burying animals. A draft of the
\nrevised regulation may be available in the fall of 2019.<\/p>\n
For more information, see pages 2-3 of NYSDAM, Agricultural Environmental
\nManagement Information Sheet: Waste Disposal,
\nhttps:\/\/www.agriculture.ny.gov\/SoilWater\/aem\/forms\/AEMInfo_WasteDisposal.pdf, and
\nCornell Waste Management Institute, Natural Rendering: Composting Livestock
\nMortality and Butcher Waste (2002),
\nhttps:\/\/flsart.org\/acmwg\/carcass_disposal_guidance\/Composting%20Livestock%20Motal
\nity%20and%20Butcher%20Waste.pdf.<\/p>\n
Special care should be taken with offal from diseased animals and offal containing infectious
\nagents. For carcass composting that involves a serious animal disease, such as mad cow disease,
\na farmer may need to obtain special approval.95 For animal waste and contaminated food supply
\nitems that include infectious agents, farmers should consult the regulations in Part 365 of Title 6
\nof the New York Code, Rules and Regulations that may apply to this type of waste.<\/p>\n
Farmers can allow the skinning of the animal on the farm, but those customers taking carcasses
\nwith the hide still on are encouraged to contact the DEC for guidance of how to dispose of the
\nhide.<\/p>\n
3. If Selling Amenable Red Meat Wholesale, Retail and\/or Direct to the Consumer<\/p>\n
a) Slaughter Requirements<\/p>\n
In New York all red meat for resale from amenable species must be slaughtered at a USDA
\ninspected facility and the animal must be inspected before and after slaughter by a FSIS
\ninspector. This is not true throughout the entire Northeast United States. For example, in Maine,
\nVermont and West Virginia an amenable animal can be inspected and slaughtered at a \u201cUSDA
\nEquivalent\u201d state facility and the state inspected carcass (or meat from it) can be sold within that
\nparticular state. In Delaware, Maryland and Virginia an animal may also be slaughtered under
\ninspection at a Talmadge-Aiken plant.<\/p>\n
At the USDA slaughterhouse the animal:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Must be humanely stunned and rendered unconscious prior to killing unless the
\nslaughterhouse has a religious exemption in which case it must be humanely
\nkilled within religious constraints<\/p>\n
\u2022 Must undergo ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections<\/p>\n
\u2022 Must be identified as one of the species that a slaughterhouse will be slaughtering
\non the slaughterhouse\u2019s application for federal inspection.<\/p>\n
Healthy amenable species may be field-harvested on-farm for custom exempt processing but not
\nfor USDA inspection. Non-ambulatory pigs, sheep or goats may be processed at a custom
\nexempt facility for human food (only for the owner of the downed animal, not for sale), but non
\nambulatory cattle are precluded from the food chain and must be condemned. See
\nhttps:\/\/askfsis.custhelp.com\/app\/answers\/detail\/a_id\/1191\/kw\/non-ambulatory for USDA
\nguidance on \u201cdowner\u201d cattle.<\/p>\n
Information on the requirements for field harvesting is provided on page 53 of this
\nGuide.<\/p>\n
Because the returns from slaughtering small ruminants are generally less than for doing cattle or
\nhogs, some slaughterhouses no longer apply for federal inspection for small ruminants. Thus, a
\nfarmer could not take a lamb to a USDA plant for federal inspection if that plant does not have
\nsheep listed on their approved slaughter list. In general, the large rails used for doing large
\nanimals will also work for small ruminants; however, a slaughterhouse that is only set up to
\nhandle small ruminants may have its rails set too low to be suitable for hogs and\/or cattle.
\nCustom meat must be kept separated at all times from inspected meat. During deer season,
\ncarcasses brought in by hunters must be kept separate from USDA inspected meat. Depending on
\nthe size of the slaughterhouse and their cooler capacity, the FSIS inspector may ask plants that
\nprocess meat for hunters to accept no domestic livestock during deer season or to store deer
\ncarcasses in separate coolers.<\/p>\n
Farmers can sell USDA inspected meat direct from their farms with the following provisions. All
\ninspected meat intended for sale or resale must be transported and stored at temperatures below
\n41\u00b0F. Meat may be transported in a clean cooler with adequate ice packs. Frozen meat must be
\ntransported and stored at temperatures 0\u00b0F or below. Inspected meat must be kept separate from
\nnon-inspected meat. It must either be stored in a separate freezer\/cooler from non-inspected meat
\nor stored in a separate area of the freezer\/cooler to minimize any risk of contamination. For
\nexample, if stored in an upright freezer, inspected meat should be stored on the top shelves to
\navoid any leakage from non-inspected meat.<\/p>\n
More on storage and safe product handling in a later chapter.<\/p>\n
b) Amenable Meat Processing Options<\/p>\n
Processing of meat covers a wide range of operations. It includes simple operations such as
\ndeboning meat, the repackaging of larger packages of meat into smaller sized packages.
\nProcessing also includes complex procedures such as the production of beef stock, the
\nmanufacturing of bolognas, or the canning of a hash.<\/p>\n
Amenable meat must be processed at a USDA meat plant under federal inspection if it is to be
\nsold wholesale. It can be processed in a state certified kitchen (also known as a 20-C licensed
\nfacility in New York) if it is to be sold direct to consumers or from the farmer\u2019s on-farm stand or
\nretail store. Amenable processed meat can also be sold at the farmer\u2019s stall at a farmer\u2019s market
\nand in limited amounts to off-site restaurants. However, meat products that are cured, smoked,
\ncooked, or marinated at a 20-C facility cannot be sold to off-site restaurants.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that the marketer of the meat must hold the 20-C license. Shared-use kitchens are
\nlegal in NY as long as each operator has obtained a 20-C license from NYSDAM.<\/p>\n
The butcher shops in most supermarkets and meat shops operate under 20-C licenses rather than
\nUSDA federal inspection. This license allows them to process USDA inspected carcasses into
\nretail cuts and to repackage wholesale packages of inspected meat into smaller retail portions for
\nsale to customers.<\/p>\n
It is important to remember that if amenable meat is processed by someone holding a 20-C
\nlicense, it cannot be transported to another state for marketing. In addition, processed amenable
\nmeat products are held to the same transportation and storage requirements as amenable meats.
\nAn on-farm restaurant may process meat products and package them for sale at farmer\u2019s market
\nor at an on-farm store. This may be permitted if the restaurant has a 20-C license or if the
\nrestaurant is permitted under the Department of Health (DoH), has a scheduled process filed with
\nboth the DoH and NYSDAM. All other regulations, such as labeling and packaging requirements
\nare applicable.<\/p>\n
c) Organ Meats and Specified Risk Materials<\/p>\n
The customer can request various organ meats at a USDA slaughterhouse. The USDA FSIS has
\nspecific regulations outlining the procedures required for cleaning, preparation, and packaging of
\nvarious organ meats. Typically, USDA meat plants will return heart, liver, tongue, and kidneys
\nto customers upon request. Parts such as the tongue, spleen, thymus, testicles, pancreas,
\nesophagus, stomachs (tripe, etc.), as well as hog heads may be more difficult to acquire in part
\nbecause processors may be less familiar with the procedure requirements for cutting, cleaning or
\npackaging them. Some of these by-products such as testicles, pig snouts, etc. can be marked for
\nsale as edible products but cannot be used as ingredients in a meat product.<\/p>\n
Some animal parts are not available as either edible products or meat products. This is because
\nthey have been identified as Specified Risk Materials (SRMs). Most SRMs are associated with<\/p>\n
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), a family of diseases occurring in man
\nand animals characterized by a degeneration of brain tissue caused by prions (misfolded
\nproteins) that build up in the central nervous system and kill nerve cells. There are several
\nexamples of TSEs in humans including Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD). Livestock examples
\ninclude Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or \u201cmad cow disease\u201d in cattle, Scrapie in
\nsheep and goats, and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer and elk.<\/p>\n
Because the transmission of some of these diseases is not completely understood, the possibility
\nof transmission from animals to humans and vice versa has not been completely ruled out.
\nTherefore, animal parts such as the brain, skull, tonsils, eyes, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord,
\ndorsal root ganglia, and vertebral column (excluding vertebrae of the tail, the transverse
\nprocesses of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and the wings of the sacrum) of cattle 30 months
\nof age or older which may harbor any BSE prions, are not available for consumption and must be
\nproperly disposed of.<\/p>\n
The age of cattle should be determined by age documentation such as birth records if available.
\nHowever, dentition (examination of the teeth) is the final determinant in cases where no age
\ndocumentation is available or the inspector has serious concerns about the age documentation
\nrecords.<\/p>\n
Tonsils from any species and the distal ileum portion of the small intestines of all cattle
\nregardless of age have also been identified as SRMs and are unavailable for human consumption.
\nThe USDA regulations declare lungs as inedible even though they are not on the SRM list.
\nGenerally, organs and parts not fit for consumption are marked or dyed in a non-edible substance
\nand taken off the facility.<\/p>\n
Currently there are no official offal disposal requirements for the different species, although it is
\nrecommended that parts which may have the potential for any type of TSE contamination (BSE,
\nscrapie or CWD) be sent to public landfills and buried. Composting is an accepted method of
\ndisposal in the State of New York for amenable species. Rendering companies may collect offal
\nand then cook and separate the components for later use in animal feeds. As a result, some
\nrenderers may refuse Specified Risk Materials.<\/p>\n
Edible by-products may become part of FDA-regulated human food or cosmetics. However,
\nSRMs such as the brain, spinal cord, and eyes of cattle 30 months of age or older, the distal
\nileum portion of the small intestine of all cattle, and the tonsils of all animals are prohibited.
\nEdible by-products may be used in dietary supplements and other human food including casings,
\nsoups, stocks, flavorings, extracts, collagen, and amino acids.<\/p>\n
For more information on when federal inspection of amenable livestock is required,
\nSee USDA-FSIS, FSIS Guideline for Determining Whether a Livestock Slaughter or Processing
\nFirm Is Exempt from the Inspection Requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (May
\n2018), https:\/\/www.fsis.usda.gov\/wps\/wcm\/connect\/16a88254-adc5-48fb-b24c
\n3ea0b133c939\/Compliance-Guideline-LIvestock-Exemptions.pdf?MOD=AJPERES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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