The USDA Versus Small Slaughterhouses

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/05/the-usda-versus-small-slaughterhouses

The Atlantic has an interesting piece from Joe Cloud, the owner of a small slaughterhouse in Virginia called True & Essential Meats, about how "Small, community-based meat processing plants" have become casualties of "the challenge of meeting the Byzantine demands of USDA regulations without a Ph.D. in microbiology." He writes, "The proposal recommends testing for testing's sake, and it will cost small plants tens of thousands of dollars, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, every year. The financial burden appears great enough that this will destroy much of the remaining community-based meat processing industry, which is enjoying a renaissance and creating jobs."

One of the problems with regulation, whether it is of meat processing or of the chemicals in the paint used to paint the lines on roads, is that to manage the cost of compliance you need to be a big business.

by Ira Stoll  |  May 24, 2010 at 11:35 am Related Topics:  Press receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list