The meat shortage is here

Years ago congress passed a federal law that requires meat processors to have a USDA official on site with their own office at the expense of the company to perform inspections. This eliminated the mom and pop shops for being able to butcher any meat that is sold to grocery stores. That regulation was among many that they changed. What this did is put the government in bed with the big corporate Tyson type food entities as they always do. And didn’t allow The mom and pop meat processors to do anything but butchered peoples game meat or maybe your own homegrown pig or cow. They weren’t allowed to process meat that went to the grocery stores anymore. Not in less they met all the requirements that cost millions of dollars.

that right there, what I just posted above is why we’re going to face a meat shortage. 95% of the meat you buy in the grocery store comes from the same nine meat processors.

What’s on the horizon next for us? As we fall in to a nationwide meat shortage you’ll be buying meat at Walmart that comes from Mexico and China. Nice.

 

Dont worry you already are

 

You are correct, any packaged meat sold for retail sale to the public must be USDA inspected. Most small packing houses cannot afford the expense involved or the amount of "red tape" involved. Funny thing is, most of the E-coli, Listeria & Salmonella outbreaks have involved big outfits with USDA oversight. When's the last time you heard of a small producer with that happening, but I digress.

It's not all doom & gloom though, the regulations (at this point in time) do allow you to process your own meat, or have someone else do it for you.

You can buy a hog or a steer from a farmer live and either process it yourself, have the farmer butcher do it for you, or have a 3rd party local butcher do it. After it's processed, you just can't sell it to another, it has to be for your consumption.

Meat birds (up to 1000 a year) we can raise, butcher, and sell retail without USDA inspection.

There are small farmers & butchers all across this great country of ours, you just have to seek them out.

We do some our hogs & all the chickens here at the farm. As a group some of us used to do custom butchering, but I'm not that ambitious anymore. The steers go to a USDA butcher because we don't have the setup to hang them for 10 days. Some small butchers just use a reefer trailer or install the unit on the side of their building to hang 'em for the time needed. The guy we use is so busy though that I have to schedule my appointment no later than Jan 31st to get my steers in for the next December.

Folks in the big cities might have to travel a little ways to find the farms and the food, but we are out here, you just have to seek and you will find.

Most small farmers raise their animals without growth hormones or pumped full of antibiotics, so the meat will be way healthier for you in the long run. Same with vegetables, many small producers raise their produce organically, without herbicides & pesticides...

 

I spent the weekend showing my mom where the small farms are in Amish country. Also eastern PA is still hunting territory, so lots of small butchers if you can find them. (Not a hunter myself so it would take me a little more research, but I know they're out there.) I told my mom to start slowly filling her drop freezer with some backup, just in case. My father in law in his prime would probably buy a whole pig and rotisserie it. (His health isn't good enough to do something like that anymore. Still, maybe my brother in law might do it.)

I'm just angry because while I can prep and batten down the household I'm up a ####### creek out here in the truck where some municipalities won't even let us use the bathroom. Meanwhile in spite of everything I warned my wife to the contrary, she still buys microwave pizza, McDonald's and heat & serve chicken nuggets "because it's easier".

It's a heck of a thing to watch the Titanic go down and your wife decide she has to go to the stateroom to put on her makeup before she can get in a lifeboat.

 

I just came back from Walmart, got some ribeyes at a decent price,$8 lb. and 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters for .62c lb. Couldn’t pass that deal up. No shortage yet. Some bacon was sold out. Comfort food. Lol.

 

Got a hroup here in FL selling 20 ribeye for $30.00. Parked at the empty malls

 

Pilot in Lowell,Indiana. No beef available,only chicken and salads!!

#where’sthebeef?? LMMFAO

 

There is a very old commercial. Wheres the beef.

When it aired on our television we laughed until we cried. Almost seizures too. Imagine 50 battle hardened truckers on the floor.

The fuel desk was wondering what the hell we were watching up there. HA.

 

I remember those commercials!! Can you imagine if those commercials were played now?!?!?lol