Local Meat in Mississippi

Mississippi operates a state meat and poultry inspection program. The Meat Inspection Division of the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) enforces three statutes: the Meat, Meat-Food and Poultry Regulation and Inspection Law of 1960 (Miss. Code Ann. 75-33-1 through 75-33-39), the Mississippi Meat Inspection Law of 1968 (75-35-1 through 75-35-33), and the Animal and Poultry By-Products Disposal Law of 1964. MDAC's regulations state that the FSIS regulations under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act are followed in conducting state inspections.

A Mississippi farm therefore has two inspected routes: a USDA plant, listed at /processors/mississippi, whose meat can be sold anywhere, or a state-inspected plant whose meat can be sold anywhere inside Mississippi but not across state lines, because the state is not in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program. Custom-exempt plants, which MDAC licenses and inspects for sanitation, return meat only to the animal's owner. Compare the three in USDA vs. state vs. custom-exempt and see the national list in state meat inspection programs.

Mississippi is the rare state that spells out the share sale in regulation. MDAC regulation 111, adopted in 2014 and amended in 2020 under Miss. Code Ann. 75-33-5 and 75-35-27, lists the requirements for the custom slaughter exemption of cattle, sheep, swine, and goats. The statute behind it, 75-35-31(1), mirrors 9 CFR 303.1(a)(2): custom slaughter of animals delivered by the owner is exempt when the meat is used exclusively in the owner's household by the owner, household members, nonpaying guests, and employees.

Point six matters for buyers. In most states a farm quotes a half by hanging weight; in Mississippi the regulation says the animal's price must be per head or per pound live, so expect a live-weight quote from the farm and a separate processing bill from the plant. Point two settles the share question that other states leave open: several households may own one animal, as long as each owner is named to the plant before slaughter. Packages are marked Not for Sale. Read how to buy a half cow, custom-exempt slaughter explained, and animal shares and herd shares for the general mechanics.

Mississippi's poultry exemptions come from Miss. Code Ann. 75-33-3(4), which exempts poultry producers processing their own birds on the same basis as the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act, and MDAC regulation 211 explains how the division applies them. The two tiers track 9 CFR 381.10. Under 211.03, a grower producing 1,000 or fewer poultry per calendar year must register with MDAC annually, slaughter only healthy birds of their own raising (from an egg or a chick), not buy or sell other poultry, keep slaughter and sales records submitted quarterly, and accept an annual visit. Under 211.04, a grower producing more than 1,000 and up to 20,000 birds must be licensed by MDAC annually, meet the 9 CFR 416 sanitation standards, and meet MDAC's building and equipment rules.

Under 211.05 every exempt bird is labeled Exempt from Inspection with the grower's name, the farm name and address, and safe handling instructions. Under 211.06 the grower may deliver preordered poultry to the customer inside the state, or meet the customer at an agreed pickup point; home delivery means delivery to a private home, not a handoff on public property. MDAC publishes the registration application for exempt poultry producers. The federal tiers are explained in on-farm poultry exemptions.

Mississippi is a broiler state with a modest cattle herd. In 2025 the state produced 701.1 million broilers weighing 4.7 billion pounds, sixth nationally by head count. NASS counted 800,000 cattle and calves on January 1, 2026, down 1 percent and 33rd nationally, with 420,000 cows that have calved and a 2025 calf crop of 345,000. Hog numbers are small enough that NASS does not report Mississippi separately in the December Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report.

Cow-calf herds are heaviest in the northeast and the Prairie; broilers concentrate in the east-central counties and the Pine Belt. USDA plants that serve those farms are on our Mississippi registry; search by county in the finder.

Mississippi's long grazing season spreads grass-finished beef over more of the year than in northern states, but fall remains the busiest slaughter window and custom-exempt calendars fill first from September through December. Farms selling halves and quarters usually take deposits in spring; under regulation 111 the sale must close before slaughter, so the deposit and the final live-weight settlement both happen before the animal goes to the plant. Pork is scheduled year-round. Exempt poultry is preordered by rule, so expect to order ahead and pick up or take home delivery on a set date.