Marin Sun Farms, Inc.

Marin Sun Farms, Inc. operates a small USDA-inspected meat plant at 1522 Petaluma Blvd. North in Petaluma, Sonoma County, California, under establishment numbers M48087, P48087 and V48087. The federal record lists meat processing, meat slaughter, and voluntary meat processing and slaughter activities, with a grant of inspection date on file of October 20, 2021. Species slaughtered under inspection are reported to FSIS as cattle, hogs, and sheep and lamb. FSIS places the plant in the smallest slaughter volume category, under 1,000 head per year, and no custom-exempt activity is reported.

The company describes itself as a meat business founded in 1999 by David Evans, an extension of his upbringing on his family's cattle ranch in the Point Reyes National Seashore. The website states the company is vertically integrated from pasture to processing to plate, with employees in Petaluma, Point Reyes Station and Oakland, and that it operates what it calls the last remaining USDA inspected slaughterhouse in the San Francisco Bay Area. David Evans and Claire Herminjard are listed as co-executive officers. The site describes the Petaluma facility as certified organic, certified by Marin Organic Certified Agriculture, and recommended by Animal Welfare Approved for the slaughter of beef, cattle, pigs, goats and sheep following reviews in 2014 and 2015.

On the sales side, the company markets grass fed and pasture raised meat and eggs sourced from California family farms, with no antibiotics or hormones. Product categories named include beef, lamb, goat, pork, veal, poultry, chicken, eggs and specialty items. A butcher shop is listed at Rockridge Market Hall in Oakland, and direct delivery vans are described as serving wholesale customers around California Monday through Friday. Note that the website markets goat and poultry products, while the species reported to FSIS for slaughter at this establishment are cattle, hogs, and sheep and lamb.

The website's services page states that Marin Sun Farms helps ranchers bring beef, pork, lamb and goat to market, with procedures providing a high degree of traceability and separation for each lot of livestock. The slaughterhouse is described as linked to cut-and-wrap services performed by hand under USDA oversight. The Petaluma plant is described as certified by Marin Organic Certified Agriculture as a USDA Certified Organic processing plant and recommended by Animal Welfare Approved for slaughter of beef, cattle, pigs, goats and sheep. Producers are directed to contact the plant for information and pricing at 1522 Petaluma Blvd North, 415-663-8997 or office@marinsunfarms.com; the FSIS record lists (707) 775-2416. Booking procedures, scheduling lead times, minimums, kill fees and cut-and-wrap rates are not stated in the sources. No custom-exempt slaughter is reported to FSIS, and the FSIS slaughter volume category is under 1,000 head per year.

Marin Sun Farms, 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 contact page lists an Oakland butcher shop at Rockridge Market Hall, 5655 College Avenue, Oakland, and includes an inquiry category for Animal Share, though the terms of animal shares are not described. The website markets grass fed, pasture raised meat and eggs raised without antibiotics or hormones and sourced from California family farms, with categories including beef, lamb, goat, pork, veal, poultry, chicken and specialty meats such as duck, rabbit, ham, bacon and hot dogs. Delivery is described as available in some areas, with an instruction to inquire; the site describes vans delivering Monday through Friday to wholesale customers around California. Halves and quarters, bundle pricing, online ordering and shipping are not described in the sources.

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.