Peco Foods, Inc.

Peco Foods, Inc. operates a poultry slaughter and processing establishment at 625 S Allen St in Batesville, Independence County, Arkansas, under FSIS establishment number P468. The federal record lists the plant's activities as poultry processing and poultry slaughter, with poultry as the species slaughtered under inspection. FSIS classifies the establishment as large, with a slaughter volume category of 5.0, the highest of the reported categories, and shows a grant of inspection date on file of December 19, 2019. No custom-exempt activity is reported to FSIS.

Peco Foods describes itself as a fourth-generation, family-owned poultry company founded in 1937 by John Herman Hickman, headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with more than 7,500 team members and 20 facilities across the Southeast. The company states it operates across Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas with a vertically integrated model covering hatchery, feed, live production, harvest and further processing. Its corporate materials name product categories including par-fry, individually frozen items, mechanically separated chicken, wings, deboned boneless white and dark meat, marinated and bag and blast products, and bone-in dark meat, and list conventional, no antibiotics ever, and vegetarian-fed programs.

The company markets to further processors, distributors, foodservice operators, quick-service restaurants, casual dining, retail supermarkets, clubs, specialty stores and international markets. Peco Foods does not describe a retail counter, direct-to-household sales, or custom processing for individual farmers at the Batesville site. Details beyond the federal record and the company website are not yet on file.

The federal record reports no custom-exempt activity at this establishment, and neither the FSIS listing nor the company website describes drop-off custom slaughter, booking windows, minimums, or cut and wrap services for individual producers. Peco Foods describes a vertically integrated model in which the company supplies chicks and feed to contract growers who raise birds on their farms, a structure it says has been in place since the 1950s. Producers interested in a grower relationship or in poultry procurement would need to contact the company directly at the numbers on file.

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.

No retail counter, halves and quarters, bundles, online ordering, delivery, or shipping to households is stated for this location. The company describes selling to foodservice, retail supermarkets, clubs, specialty stores, industrial customers and international markets rather than directly to consumers.

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.