Starting out in the sausage business/USDA Regulations

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Starting out in the sausage business/USDA Regulations

Postby DavidS » Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:24 am

This is for folks in the USA: I'm considering setting up a very small business producing a couple of varieties of specialty and country sausages. I'm located in a area where three states come together, so the ability to sell interstate is critical. What I'm trying to find out is, what are the regulations concerning production of sausage products & etc. I've been the the USDA.gov website and gotten absolutely nowhere. This is all very much in the planning stages, but I don't want to invest too much time and money in a bureaucratic nightmare. If I can only find out what it takes to get into this business and production regulations, that would help me make further decisions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :?
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Postby aris » Fri Mar 18, 2005 9:19 am

Perhaps a phone-call to the USDA will point you in the right direction.

This website may be a good starting point too:

http://www.meatnews.com/
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Postby Epicurohn » Fri Jun 03, 2005 9:21 pm

Rytek Kutas mentions this briefly in his book. You can start with the local food inspector also.

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Re: Starting out in the sausage business/USDA Regulations

Postby othmar » Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:55 pm

DavidS wrote:This is for folks in the USA: I'm considering setting up a very small business producing a couple of varieties of specialty and country sausages. I'm located in a area where three states come together, so the ability to sell interstate is critical. What I'm trying to find out is, what are the regulations concerning production of sausage products & etc. I've been the the USDA.gov website and gotten absolutely nowhere. This is all very much in the planning stages, but I don't want to invest too much time and money in a bureaucratic nightmare. If I can only find out what it takes to get into this business and production regulations, that would help me make further decisions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :?


To sell interstate you are going to need a federal licence. I am not sure how that works in the states, I live in Canda, but I am sure if you contact your local USDA branch or meat Inspector they will be able to point you in the right direction.
This link www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome may give you the information you seek too.
Best of luck and let me know how it goes.
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Postby othmar » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:25 am

To DavidS.

Your question interested me and so I looked a little closer in to your "problem".
I could find out this basic information for you.
It seems that when the costumers come to you to buy your products for personal consuption you do not need a federal licence. Even if these costumers are from out of state.
On the other hand if you intend to export your products out of state for retail sale trough a thirt party, i.e superstore, then you need a federal licence.
You also need appropriate food labels which are standardiced by the USDA and many other things.
In short be prepared for a long and often confusing as well costly process if you want to go the second route.

Hope everything works out for you.

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Postby pawclaws » Fri Sep 09, 2005 1:52 pm

Start with your county health inspector. Any restaurant can give you the name and phone number. They will refer you to the state officials for their information packages. A good idea is to talk with the folk at Small Business in particular the Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE) and let them bend your ears for a while. Once you examine the economics and have all of the business set up strategy worked out you might want to visit a small manufacturing operation before buying any equipment. I would recommend Rudy's Farms outside of Clarksville. Drop my ex-wife's name (Erlinda) on Frank Rudy's wife and I'm sure whe will help you out.
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