Keystone Meats Inc.

Keystone Meats Inc. operates at 3585 Harding HWY in Lima, Ohio, in Allen County, under establishment numbers M15826, P15826 and V15826. The federal record lists the plant for meat processing, meat slaughter, poultry processing and voluntary poultry processing, with a grant of inspection date on file of August 24, 2021. FSIS classifies the plant as very small. Cattle are the only species reported slaughtered under inspection, and the reported slaughter volume category is under 1,000 head per year. The plant also reports custom-exempt slaughter, meaning it processes animals owned by the customer with packages marked Not for Sale, and reports retail-exempt sales.

The company website presents Keystone Meats as a producer of all natural canned meats. It describes the business as a family operation in its fourth generation, run by the Dorley family, with more than 60 years of production. According to the About page, the business began in Lima when lifelong beef cattle farmer Raymond L. Dorley and his son Raymond B. Dorley, returning from World War II, opened a meat packing company called The Pride of Lima and sold meats and provisions under the brand Lima Keystone Products, processing cattle raised on the family farm. A later generation, Dave Dorley, is described as taking over as owner and operator.

Product pages describe fully cooked canned beef, canned ground beef and canned pork in 28 ounce and 14.5 ounce cans, stated to contain only meat and sea salt, with no preservatives and no added water. Orders are placed through an online store, and the site notes that high demand may mean up to five days to process an order. The federal record shows poultry activities that the fetched website pages do not describe in product terms. Details on custom cut and wrap, retail counter hours, pricing and booking are not on file.

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The federal record shows Keystone Meats Inc. as a meat slaughter and processing establishment that slaughters cattle under inspection, with a reported volume category of under 1,000 head per year, and that it reports custom-exempt slaughter, in which animals owned by the customer are processed and the packages are marked Not for Sale. Poultry processing and voluntary poultry processing are also listed as FSIS activities. Beyond those federal entries, the website on file focuses on the company's canned meat line and does not state custom booking procedures, lead times, minimums, hanging weight or kill fees, cut and wrap options, or drop-off scheduling. Farmers should contact the plant at (419) 225-9600 to confirm whether custom work is being scheduled, as listed.

Keystone Meats Inc. reports custom-exempt slaughter to FSIS, which means it can process an animal a customer already owns (a whole, half, or share bought before slaughter) and return it in packages marked Not for Sale. Most small farms have one or two plants they book with, and the plant's calendar decides the delivery date.

Households can order Keystone canned meats through the company's online store at keystonemeats.com, which lists fully cooked canned beef, canned ground beef and canned pork in 28 ounce and 14.5 ounce cans, described as containing only meat and sea salt with no preservatives or added water. The site notes that high demand may mean up to five days to process an order. The federal record shows the plant reports retail-exempt sales. Shipping terms, prices, retail counter hours, and any sale of fresh cuts, halves or quarters are not stated 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.