Schiltz Foods, Inc.

Schiltz Foods, Inc. operates a federally inspected poultry plant at 7 West Oak Street in Sisseton, Roberts County, South Dakota. The USDA FSIS directory lists the establishment under numbers P242 and V242, with activities covering poultry slaughter, poultry processing, and export certification. FSIS classifies the plant as small, with a slaughter volume category of 3.0, and the grant of inspection date on file is February 18, 2022. Species detail is not reported to FSIS, and no custom-exempt activity is reported.

The company website describes Schiltz Foods, Inc. and Schiltz Goose Farm, Inc. as a family business in the goose trade since 1944, when Marlin Schiltz hatched two goslings from Toulouse goose eggs. Early production served the weeder goose industry, in which geese were used for weed control in cotton, strawberry, asparagus, and mint fields. After herbicides displaced that market in the 1960s, the family worked with poultry geneticists Verne Logan and Dr. Arnie Nordskog of Iowa State University on meat strains and registered a distinct breed, Schiltz Line 306, with the Department of Agriculture. Richard Schiltz joined in the 1970s, when a state inspected processing plant was purchased. In 1980 the family acquired the current federally inspected facility in South Dakota so product could ship to all 50 states, moving operations to Sisseton after completing the acquisition of the goose operations of Lansberger Creamery in 1981, at which point Jim Schiltz joined the operation.

The website sells directly to households online through a Shopify storefront, offering whole geese, capon, and a range of parts and smoked items with shipping. The site describes the company as the largest goose producer in the Americas and notes coverage of its whole smoked goose in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times 2015 holiday gift guide, and Bon Appetit. Nothing in the sources describes custom slaughter or processing for outside livestock owners, and the federal record reports no custom-exempt activity.

Households can order directly from the company website, which operates as an online store with whole geese, whole and smoked capon, goose parts, smoked goose breast, goose liver, rendered goose fat, and gift certificates. The site states that products ship, and a shipping policies page is listed. Payment methods shown include American Express, Apple Pay, Diners Club, Discover, Google Pay, Mastercard, Shop Pay, and Visa. Questions can go to 605-698-7651 during office hours or by email to tmetz@schiltzfoods.com. The sources do not describe an on site retail counter or local pickup.

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.