Safer Management Practices for Small Poultry Processors in Missouri

In the State of Missouri, if poultry raisers want to sell at farmers markets or health food stores, their chickens need to be inspected and labeled. It is also an option for poultry raisers to process no more than 1,000 chickens on the farm and sell to customers at their farm, without government inspection. This is an advantage for these producers and has helped to establish a growing livelihood for many small family farms with added income for a limited amount of investment. 

The Backes family has been in the business of raising and processing chickens and turkeys since 1932. Their plant, located in Loose Creek, MO, has been with the USDA and MO State Meat Inspection Program for more than 40 years, and has been used by both to train inspectors and giving helpful advice to individuals interested starting their own processing businesses. Backes Poultry raises and processes their own chickens as well as providing custom butchering services to other raisers. Over the past few years, the custom part of their business has increased substantially as individuals want to raise their own chickens and sell at farmers markets or directly to consumers who want to buy fresh poultry. 

The Backes family wants to help educate small poultry producers in Missouri by offering advice on how they can provide their customers the highest quality product possible by following regular safety practices. This booklet, developed by Kevin Backes as part of an NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant project, contains descriptions and photos of processing poultry on the farm using best management practices for a safer product in Missouri. In an effort to promote better safety practices in poultry processing, Backes Poultry gives hands-on workshops, trains processors and their employees, and provides tours of the Backes Poultry processing operation. Contact Kevin Backes here.

Want more information? See the related SARE grant(s) FNC12-845, Teaching Pastured Poultry Producers On-Farm Processing Best Management Practices for a Safer Product.