Norman W. Fries, Inc.

Norman W. Fries, Inc., doing business as Claxton Poultry Farms, operates under USDA FSIS establishment number P6505 at 8816 Highway 301 North in Claxton, Evans County, Georgia. The federal record lists poultry slaughter and poultry processing activities, poultry as the species slaughtered under inspection, a size class of large, and a slaughter volume category of 5.0. The grant of inspection date on file is May 2, 2019. No custom-exempt activity is reported to FSIS.

The company website describes more than 70 years of producing all-natural NAE (No Antibiotics Ever) chicken and calls itself one of the largest family-owned egg to market companies in the United States. Its history page states that Norman W. Fries entered the poultry business in the 1930s working for his father's poultry store in Savannah and opened his own business in 1949 with one truck, one freezer and one helper. Since his death in 2001, Doris S. Fries has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, and the site names second, third and fourth generation family members in Board, President, feed mill and processing roles.

Products described on the website include tray packed items, deboned chicken, and fast food cuts sold raw or marinated and packaged by the number of birds in the box, along with rotisserie WOGs and marinated WOGs prepared for delis and restaurants. The site says product is packed in ice, CVP dry-pack or case-ready customer packages and delivered the same day to retail grocers, distributors, restaurants and delis throughout the Southeast, with a computerized scale system, customer-specification labeling and bar coding for order tracking. The website also references export and a corporate food safety contact address. Details beyond these points, including hours, retail sales to the public and any services for individual livestock owners, are not yet on file.

The federal record reports no custom-exempt activity at P6505, and neither the website nor the federal record describes custom slaughter, booking, per-head fees or cut and wrap services for outside growers bringing their own birds. The website describes an integrated egg to market operation, from hatchery through processing, with a company feed mill in Surrency. A farmer or rancher seeking toll or custom processing would need to contact the plant directly at (912) 739-3181 to learn what, if anything, is available.

Norman W. Fries, 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 website is directed at wholesale and foodservice buyers rather than households. It states that product is delivered the same day to retail grocers, distributors, restaurants and delis throughout the Southeast, and that chicken is all-natural NAE (No Antibiotics Ever). No retail counter, farm store, halves or quarters, bundles, online ordering or direct home shipping is described in the sources on file.

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.