Meat Inspection

Mississippi is one of twenty-seven states that have a meat inspection program. The Meat Inspection Division of Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) began with the Meat, Meat-Food and Poultry Regulation and Inspection Law of 1960. The law was amended with the Mississippi Inspection Law of 1968 at which time it entered into a cooperative agreement with the USDA. The purpose of the cooperative agreement is to establish a meat and poultry inspection system that is “equal to” the federal inspection system.

In 1964, the Animal and Poultry By-Products Disposal Law was enacted. This law requires MDAC to control and regulate the transportation over state highways and disposal of poultry by-products, slaughterhouse offal, and carcasses of dead animals.

Today, the Meat Inspection Division provides inspection services to establishments that prepare meat and poultry food products for entry into intrastate commerce and to some establishments that engage in interstate commerce. The Division inspects all establishments engaged in the slaughtering of food animals and poultry, except for those plants operating under federal inspection. The Division also inspects the further processing of meat, meat-food products, poultry, and poultry food products and their preparation for consumer items. These products are also inspected throughout formulation, packaging, labeling, and distribution to retail outlets. This assurance is becoming more critical as more food products are intended to be consumed with little or no further preparation at home.

MDAC has a cooperative agreement with the USDA establishing a meat and poultry inspection system that is equal to the federal inspection system. In addition, MDAC has cooperative agreements for the Talmadge-Aiken Program (TA), which permits state employees to provide inspections at federal meat plants, as well as the Compliance and Investigation Division Program (CID), which gives authority to inspect businesses that handle meat and poultry for law compliance.

The inspection program will be conducted without regard to race, color, national orgin, age, or disability.

Limited English Proficiency documents will be provided upon written request to the director of the Meat Inspection Division.

USDA policy of nondiscrimination – “And Justice for All (usda.gov)” poster.