Information

Application to be included in the Federal USDA inspection program for food processing/manufacturing establishments that handle meat, eggs, and/or catfish and are located in states that do not have meat, poultry, or egg inspection programs.

In order to obtain a Grant of Inspection from USDA-FSIS, for a meat or poultry
establishment you need at a minimum the following three items. For an egg products
plant, you would need to comply with item number three.

1. A HACCP Plan. HACCP is an acronym for hazard analysis critical control
point. Such a food safety “process control program” must be developed by
someone formally trained in HACCP.

2. A Sanitation Standard Operating Procedure (Sanitation SOP).

3. A suitable facility where the walls, floors, and ceilings are cleanable,
impervious to moisture, insects, vermin and meet other sanitary requirements.

You may obtain an application, and paper as well as electronic copies of all these
documents by contacting the appropriate District Office (DO). Your DO can put you in
contact with a Frontline Supervisor assigned to your area who can also answer your
questions. Once you have the met the basic requirements and submitted your
application to the appropriate DO with the required information, the approval process
takes 4-6 weeks on average. FSIS will provide mandatory inspection service at no
charge up to 40 hrs per week and voluntary inspection as arranged at a nominal rate.
You will be responsible for voluntary or overtime charges at approximately $50-70/ hr.

See the US Department of Agriculture for more information.