The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is considering revising the definitions for establishment sizes for meat and poultry establishments, as well as egg products plants.
According to a posting by the Department on X, “Small processors keep rural America running. For nearly 30 years, USDA has used outdated definitions that don’t always reflect how these businesses actually operate. We’re fixing that. FSIS is asking for direct input to make sure our policies work for small and independent processors, not against them.”
The proposed rulemaking focuses on the use of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point’s size categories, saying “which are based on employee count and annual sales, to analyze the impact of regulations and tailor assistance to small entities. More recently, FSIS has also applied volume-based thresholds to categorize establishments to analyze the impact of regulations and for establishing Agency sampling frequencies or setting sampling requirements for the regulated industry.”
FSIS is seeking stakeholder input to “better understand the range of perspectives on how establishment sizes should be defined” and comments may be submitted until May 26, 2026.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.