Meat and Poultry Inspection Program (MPIP)

MPIP provides inspection service to meat and poultry processing and distribution facilities to ensure Missouri consumers receive only safe, wholesome, unadulterated products. Inspectors check live animals and carcasses for signs of disease and enforce humane slaughter rules. Inspectors are available daily at official establishments that produce meat and poultry products for wholesale. They inspect labels bearing the Missouri State Inspection Legend to ensure ingredients are properly listed and nothing is false or misleading to consumers. Sanitation inspection is also part of an inspector’s daily role, as is monitoring construction, grounds, maintenance, cleaning and disinfecting food and non-food contact surfaces, and verifying appropriate record keeping.

Do I need inspection?

MPIP Inspection or USDA-FSIS inspection is required under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) and Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) when meat or poultry products are being wholesaled, or in some cases, sold to the end consumer. Please visit our “exemptions” page to see if you are eligible for a meat or poultry exemption via MPIP.

How do I apply for Inspection?

To obtain a Grant of Inspection with MPIP, in order to slaughter and/or process meat and/or poultry products and sell commercially within the state of Missouri, call MDA and ask to speak with either the MPIP Program Manager or Program Director. They will ask you to either send them a layout of your facility or schedule a site visit to ensure the building meets Title 9 CFR Part 416 requirements. They will also visit with you regarding Title 9 CFR Part 417 requirements, which all official establishments must follow to design and implement a food safety system. MPIP and USDA-FSIS require all official establishments that produce inspected meat and poultry products to design and implement HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) systems.

Those who want to ship meat and meat products across state lines (interstate) should contact USDA-FSIS in Springdale, AR at (479) 751-8412.

Inspection Forms

• Official Establishment Annual License Form
• MDA Springfield Lab Food Analysis Request Form

What is considered "inspected"?

According to Title XVII AGRICULTURE AND ANIMALS, RSMo Section 265.300(7), “meat” is defined as, “any edible portion of livestock, poultry, or captive cervid carcass or part thereof.” Furthermore, RSMo Section 265.300(8), defines “meat product” as, “anything containing meat intended for or capable of use for human consumption, which is derived, in whole or in part, from livestock, poultry, or captive cervids.” Livestock may be defined as cattle, calves, sheep, swine, ratite birds including but not limited to ostrich and emu, llamas, alpacas, buffalo, bison, elk documented as obtained from a legal source and not from the wild, goats, or rabbits raised in confinement for human consumption. Poultry may be defined as, domesticated chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and squabs (young pigeons).

Consumers know their meat or poultry has been inspected because it bears a “mark of inspection” (AKA: legend, “bug,” etc.).

Why is my meat being held up at the processor?

Official establishments, as well as MPIP and USDA-FSIS, collect certain samples of meat and poultry products as part of a surveillance program to ensure no food borne pathogens are present in meat and/or poultry that will be consumed. Participation in this program is not voluntary and when a meat or poultry product is sampled, it is sometimes required to be held until final results are obtained from the laboratory.

Label approvals

Per Title XVII AGRICULTURE AND ANIMALS, RSMo Section 265.400, “The use of any label upon or accompanying any livestock, poultry, meat or meat products inspected under sections 265.300 to 265.470 shall be approved by the director before being used, and if the director finds that any label is false or misleading, he/she may prohibit the use of the label unless modified.”

Therefore, any label bearing the MPIP mark of inspection must have a label approval by the Missouri Director of Agriculture, or designee.

Producers interested in putting special claims on their products must first notify the official establishment they are currently working with and ask about applying these claims to their labels. The MPIP team is available to answer questions regarding claims on meat and poultry labels. Please contact the MPIP team at meatinspection@mda.mo.gov.

Establishments needing label approvals may submit completed forms to meatinspection@mda.mo.gov.

Single Ingredient Label Approval Form

Multi Ingredient Label Approval Form

Our compliance team monitors meat and poultry products in-commerce to ensure distributors and retailers are keeping appropriate records and following proper food safety precautions. Compliance Investigators register farm-to-fork producers interested in selling meat or poultry and respond to consumer complaints. If you are interested in selling inspected meat or poultry in the state of Missouri, contact the Compliance Investigator in your area to ask for a farm-to-fork registration.

MPIP enforces State and Federal laws, which protect Missouri consumers and small business owners. MPIP’s mission is to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of meat and poultry products produced and distributed by entities under MPIP’s authority. MPIP and USDA-FSIS program mission is not to ensure the quality of meat and poultry products. Many consumers contact MPIP regarding issues that occur during slaughter at a custom exempt facility. Unfortunately, most of these complaints are beyond MPIP’s authority and result in disputes remaining between the customer and the processor. We do, however, need to know if there is an issue or a concern we can resolve.

If you would like to file a complaint about meat or poultry products in Missouri, call the MPIP office at (573) 522-1242

Understanding How Much Meat You Will Receive

Consumers who buy a live animal from a local cattle producer for custom processing are often surprised by the amount of beef they receive, the amount of freezer space needed, and that they did not get back the entire live weight of the animal in retail cuts. Therefore, it is important to understand how to estimate how much meat you will receive when purchasing an animal to harvest.

Dressing Percentage is an important term to remember, as it represents the portion of the live animal weight that transfers to the hot carcass weight.

Dressing percentage is calculated as: (hot carcass weight ÷ the live weight) x 100.

The hot carcass weight is the weight of the unchilled carcass in pounds after the head, hide and internal organs have been removed. For most fed cattle, the hot carcass weight will be approximately 60 to 64 percent of live animal harvest weight. For example, a 1,400 pound animal with a hot carcass weight of 880 pounds has a dressing percentage of approximately 63%, which is calculated as follows:

(880 hot carcass weight ÷ 1400-pound live weight) x 100 = 63%.

It is not uncommon for the buyer of a live animal to question, “The dressing percentage of my 1400-pound steer was 63% but I only got 550 pounds of meat. Where is the rest of my meat?” The calculation of dressing percentage is based on hot carcass weight. The hot carcass weight includes bones, excess fat and moisture loss that will not be packed and wrapped for home consumption. The hot carcass weight is not the actual amount of meat that the consumer will put in the freezer.

Many factors can affect the dressing percentage. Anything that adds weight to the live animal but does not appear on the carcass will lower the dressing percentage. Factors that might add to the live animal weight but not be included in the hot carcass weight include:

• Hide
• Horns
• Pregnancy
• Mud and/or manure on the hide
• Gut fill

All beef animals are not created equal. Therefore, the dressing percentage is not consistent from one animal to another. Some of the primary factors that influence the dressing percentage include breed of the animal (dairy vs. beef), live weight, and how it was finished (grain fed or grass fed).

Questions about a Federal establishment or product from a Federal establishment?

If the product in question bears a USDA mark of inspection, or if you had an animal processed at a USDA-FSIS facility, please contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-674-6854.