Peco Foods, Inc.

Peco Foods, Inc. operates a poultry slaughter and processing establishment at 3701 Reese Phifer Avenue in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County. The plant holds USDA FSIS establishment number P6504, with a grant of inspection date on file of May 3, 2022. FSIS lists its activities as poultry processing and poultry slaughter, records poultry as the species slaughtered under inspection, and assigns the plant a size class of small with a slaughter volume category of 5.0. No custom-exempt activity is reported to FSIS.

The company website describes Peco Foods as a fourth-generation, family-owned poultry company founded in 1937 by John Herman Hickman, headquartered in Tuscaloosa, with more than 7,500 team members and 20 facilities across the Southeast. The site describes a vertically integrated model covering hatch through harvest and beyond. Company history on the site notes that a processing plant opened in Tuscaloosa in 1970 by the Harris and Hickman families and that the Hickman family acquired the Tuscaloosa processing plant in the 1980s, after which the operations began working under the Peco Foods, Inc. name.

The website presents Peco Foods as a business-to-business supplier serving quick-service restaurants, casual dining, retail supermarkets, clubs, specialty stores, further processors, distributors, foodservice operators and international markets. It lists conventional, no antibiotics ever (NAE) and vegetarian-fed programs. The corporate contact address given on the site is 1101 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, which differs from the plant address in the federal record. No retail counter, farm-customer slaughter service, or public hours are described in the sources on file.

The federal record reports no custom-exempt activity at this establishment, and nothing in the sources describes booking, drop-off, kill fees, cut and wrap, or minimums for individual farm animals. The company website describes a vertically integrated model and a long history of contract growing arrangements, in which the company supplied chicks and feed while contract growers provided housing and labor. Growers interested in that relationship, and companies seeking supply arrangements, would need to contact Peco Foods directly. Whether the plant is accepting any outside work is not stated.

Peco Foods, Inc. operates under a federal grant of inspection, so product from this plant can be sold anywhere in the United States, which matters if you sell online or across a state line. FSIS does not list a custom-exempt activity for this plant.

The sources do not describe a retail store, online ordering, bundles, delivery, or shipping to households at this location. The website is oriented to wholesale and foodservice buyers, listing sales contacts for quick-service restaurants, casual dining, retail supermarkets, clubs, specialty stores and international markets. Household buyers would encounter Peco Foods products through retail and restaurant channels rather than directly from the plant, as listed.

If you are buying a half or quarter animal, the plant is where the animal is processed; the farm sells you the animal. Read how to buy a half cow for the sequence and the math.