Inspections and Exemptions - Meat Safety

A person who contemplates engaging in a business of slaughtering livestock and/or processing of meat or poultry or meat or poultry food products should furnish information relative to the nature and volume of the operations to the Meat Safety Assurance (MSA) Section.

The MSA Central Office will inform the applicant whether the proposed business is required to have state inspection by return mail/email to the address that the applicant provides.

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) issues two different Grants of Inspection and a Registration for poultry/rabbits. A Grant of Inspection is an authorization from DSHS to engage in a meat or poultry related business.

• Grants of Inspection, sometimes referred to as full inspections, are required for operations that slaughter and/or process livestock for intrastate commerce.
   
• Grants of Custom Exemption are required of people and businesses that slaughter and/or process livestock for the owner of the livestock, or for the personal use of the owner.
   
• Registration for Low-Volume of Poultry/Rabbit Processing People who raise and process less than 10,000 poultry and/or less than 10,000 rabbits a year wish to slaughter and process them for sale. Poultry and rabbit producers and processors are required to either obtain an exemption or a Grant of Inspection.

The following document lists establishments sorted by grant type, including full inspection, voluntary inspection, custom exemptions, and poultry/rabbit exemptions. 

• Establishments by Grant Type (PDF) 

• Establishments by Grant Type (XLS)