Question:  When can I sell meat to customers across state lines?  Are there different rules if the sales take place on the internet?   Answer:  For Texas producers (and those in most other states as well), only meat processed at a federally inspected facility may be sold to customers in another state. This is true for both in person and internet sales. Analysis:  Let’s look at the applicable rules.  (Do note that here, we are focusing on “amenable animals,” which include cattle, sheep, goats, and swine.  For “non-amenable animals,”… Read More →

One common way that cattle producers enter into the direct beef sales world is by selling a live calf to the consumer and then delivering the calf to a custom processing facility where it will be processed.  As we discuss in detail in our “Where’s the Beef? Legal & Economic Considerations for Direct Beef Sales,” this approach can be attractive to producers as it allows them to avoid many of the additional requirements that come when selling beef, as opposed to selling the live animal. For example, if… Read More →