Our mission is to enforce state and federal laws designed to ensure the meat and poultry products sold to consumers are wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled.

The NCDA & CS Meat and Poultry Inspection Division (MPID) is one of 27 state meat and poultry inspection programs.

Our agency receives up to 50 per cent of its funding from the Federal government and operates in an "equal to" status as the USDA, Food Safety Inspection Service. All poultry slaughter facilities in NC are inspected by the USDA, Food Safety Inspection Service. Our agency inspects 188 red meat slaughter and processing facilities and poultry processing companies.

The agency employs approximately 120 personnel including meat and poultry inspectors, veterinarians, compliance officers, supervisory staff, trainers, and office staff.

In 2007, 188 meat and poultry plants under inspection by our agency processed 275,160,869 pounds of red meat and 90,592,352 pounds of poultry. Slaughter inspection was performed on more than 164,081 cattle; 1357 calves; 635,726 swine; 2,023 sheep; 7,179 goats; 174 ostrich; and 109 bison. Veterinarians condemned 8,943 domestic livestock deemed unfit for human consumption at slaughter.

Our regulatory authority comes from the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) and the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) as well as the North Carolina Compulsory Meat Inspection Law and the North Carolina Poultry Products Inspection Law. Federal meat and poultry inspection regulations can be found in 9 CFR Part 300 to end. State regulations are found in North Carolina General Statutes 106-549.15 - 98.

Firms that slaughter animals and/or wholesale meat and poultry products are required to be inspected by either the NCDA Meat and Poultry Inspection Division or the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service. Also, anyone who produces meat and poultry products for retail sale but transports them off-site for sale must be under such inspection.

We only inspect on-site retail sales of meats when establishments under our inspection also operate a retail meat counter at the same location. State and federal regulations require any individual or firm who processes canned meat products for retail or wholesale sale to be under inspection by the US or NC Department of Agriculture.

There are 3 types of inspected establishments regulated by our agency:

(1) Custom Exempt establishments are ones that process meat, poultry and wild game for private individuals only. These facilities are inspected for sanitation, but the meats are not inspected. All product from these facilities must be clearly marked "NOT FOR SALE," identified with the owner's name, and used only for the owner's personal consumption, for his/her family and for his/her non-paying guests. These facilities are inspected every few months, based on past sanitation history. Note, however, that our agency does not regulate facilities that process exclusively game animals such as white tail deer and bear.

(2) State Inspected establishments and (3) Talmadge-Aiken (TA) establishments are inspected daily by a trained Meat and Poultry Inspector. The only difference between these establishments is that the state inspected ones may sell their products in NC only, and the TA establishments may ship product outside NC. Animals slaughtered at these establishments are inspected for disease or abnormalities to include any conditions that would have a negative impact on human health. Any diseased or contaminated parts are removed. Trained veterinarians examine and condemn animals with generalized illness. Meat and poultry products that pass inspection are stamped and/or labeled "Inspected and Passed" and either bear a rhomboid-shaped legend (state inspected) or a round legend (TA inspected). Both state inspected and TA inspected establishments may process custom exempt product including wild game, as described above, provided it is kept separate from inspected product at all times.

Meat Handlers

All persons who deal in meat and poultry products, if not under inspection as described above, are required to register as meat and poultry handlers. Examples of firms required to have meat and poultry handler registration are door to door meat salesmen, farmers who have animals slaughtered and packed at an inspected establishment then sell the meats off their farms, and food warehouses and distributorships that store and transport meat and poultry items. Registered meat and poultry handlers must deal in fully labeled and packaged inspected products. They may not further process or repackage meat and poultry products.

Exemptions

Farmers may slaughter animals of their own raising for use by themselves, their families, and nonpaying guests. Such meats may not be sold into commerce.

Individuals may slaughter up to 1,000 chickens or rabbits of their own raising for retail or wholesale sale without benefit of inspection. Individuals who slaughter greater than 1,000 but less than 20,000 chickens or rabbits of their own raising for retail or wholesale sale are required to do so in a facility that is inspected for sanitation by our agency. Individuals who raise and slaughter over 20,000 chickens or rabbits of their own raising are required to operate in a state inspected, TA inspected, or federal (USDA, FSIS) inspected facility where each animal is inspected for disease. Note: Turkeys may also be slaughtered under this exemption, but at a volume of one-fourth that of chickens and rabbits.

Deer and other wild game may be further processed without benefit of inspection. The meats derived from wildlife in North Carolina are not legal to be sold and must be processed for the individual hunter only.

Meat markets operating under county health inspection may wholesale approximately $55,100 worth of single-ingredient meat items and $44,000 worth of single-ingredient poultry items per year for hotel, restaurant, and institutional use only. (This dollar value varies from year to year based on the Consumer Price Index). Total dollar amount of wholesale sales cannot exceed 25 per cent of the meat market's total sales. Items for wholesale may not contain any ingredient other than meat or poultry. Multi-ingredient items such as sausage, fatback, or country ham cannot be sold wholesale under this exemption.

An individual county inspected meat market may transport product to be sold at one other county inspected facility under the same ownership.

Sandwich Producers

Sandwiches containing meat and/or poultry if made close-faced and sold wholesale or off-site retail are inspected by another branch of the Department of Agriculture - Food and Drug Protection. Their telephone number is 919-733-7366. Open-faced meat and poultry sandwiches and wraps containing meat or poultry if sold wholesale or retail off-site would be required to be inspected by NCDA & CS Meat and Poultry Inspection Division or USDA, Food Safety Inspection Service.

Contact Information:

NCDA & CS
Meat and Poultry Inspection Division
1001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1001
919-733-4136 office; 919-715-0246 fax
http://www.ncagr.com/meatpoultry/

Mr. Donald Delozier, State Director
Dr. Beth Yongue, Assistant Director
Mr. Larry Ingool, TA Coordinator

Revised February 19, 2008