Peco Foods, Inc.

Peco Foods, Inc. operates a poultry slaughter and processing establishment at 15292 Highway 21 South in Sebastopol, Scott County, Mississippi. The plant is listed in the USDA FSIS directory under establishment numbers P6616 and V6616, with activities covering poultry slaughter, poultry processing and export certification. FSIS classes the establishment as large and places it in slaughter volume category 5.0, the highest of the reported categories. The grant of inspection date on file is May 4, 2022. No custom-exempt activity is reported, and poultry is the only species reported as slaughtered under inspection.

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 describes a vertically integrated model spanning hatchery, feed, live production and processing, and says its operations reach across Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. The company history states that live and processing operations in Sebastopol were added in 1996.

The company's stated markets are foodservice, retail, industrial and international customers, not walk-in consumers. Peco lists conventional, no antibiotics ever (NAE) and vegetarian-fed sourcing programs, and a Culinary and Innovation Center in Tuscaloosa for product development. Details specific to the Sebastopol plant beyond the federal record, including hours, retail sales and any local drop-off arrangements, are not on file.

The federal record reports no custom-exempt activity at this establishment, so it is not listed as a plant that processes an individual owner's birds for return. Peco Foods describes a contract grower model in which the company supplies chicks, feed and a market while farmers provide housing and labor, and its history references a network of contract growers built over decades. The sources do not state booking procedures, minimums, fees or grower contacts for the Sebastopol location. Company procurement and sales contacts are listed at the Tuscaloosa headquarters, (205) 345-4711; the plant phone on file with FSIS is (601) 625-7432.

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 counter, bundles, halves or quarters, online ordering, delivery or shipping at the Sebastopol plant. Peco Foods states that it sells to quick-service restaurants, casual dining, retail supermarkets, clubs, specialty stores and international markets, which means household buyers would encounter its poultry through grocery and restaurant channels rather than direct purchase from this establishment.

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.