Meat & Poultry

Meat and poultry producers and processors are regulated by the New Mexico Livestock Board. Meat (beef, pork, lamb, ostrich, emu and other ratites) offered for sale within the state must be slaughtered and processed at a state (or federal) inspected plant. A list of state-inspected plants is available from the Livestock Board. Custom-cutting plants are not inspected, and can only process meat for personal consumption. Meat that is processed in an inspected plant will be packaged and labeled according to state regulations.
Poultry comes under different rules. Producers who raise their own birds, and produce less than 20,000 birds per year, are exempt from inspection by either the State or the Federal government. They must still be registered, however, with the New Mexico Livestock Board, and meet the guidelines for custom exempt plants. Poultry products should be labeled with the net weight, producer name, product name, and their NM Livestock Board registration number.

Game meat, which includes buffalo, deer and elk, is also exempt from state and federal requirements. The NM Livestock Board offers a voluntary inspection and registration process, which enables producers to comply with the NM Environment Department's rule that meat producers must come from an "approved source."

Meat and poultry producers who sell meat at farmers' markets and who do not cut meat, do not need a license from the NM Environment Department, although they are still subject to the Food Act, ensuring that the food is stored and handled safely. As a potentially hazardous food, meat must be kept at 45 degrees F or below. Anybody who cuts meat in any way after it has been processed is regulated as a "meat market" under the Food Service Sanitation regulations.

In addition to selling packaged meat and meat products (either fresh or frozen) at farmers' markets, producers could consider selling or taking orders for live animals. Purchasers can then have the animal processed at a custom plant, or the producer could have it processed as a service to the customer. Such animals must follow Livestock Board rules on proof of ownership and branding.

Contact: NM Livestock Board, 800-432-6889