Meat Products Manufacturers NAICS 3116

Aug 23, 2025 - PRIME Act

• Reintroduced legislation would give states the authority to allow meat from custom slaughter facilities to be sold locally for general consumption, as opposed to for private consumption only, National Hog Farmers reports. The Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act would permit intrastate distribution of custom-slaughtered meat such as beef, pork, goat, or lamb to consumers, restaurants, grocery stores, and hotels. Currently, to sell meat commercially, federal law requires farmers and ranchers to send animals for processing at one of a limited number of USDA-certified or state-inspected facilities, which can be far away or even out of state, making it expensive and time-consuming for producers to transport their animals. The bill's sponsors say it would alleviate the significant shortage of processing capacity and allow small farms, ranches, and slaughterhouses to significantly increase their sales. Several previous attempts to pass such legislation have failed to pass either chamber.
• Aging food processing infrastructure – some dating back more than half a century – poses risks for food manufacturers, especially producers of perishable products that must move swiftly through the system to preserve freshness and quality, Food Processing (FP) reports. Older equipment is more likely to break down, interrupting production and potentially leading to product loss and unexpected replacement costs. Moreover, prolonged downtime or product loss due to breakdowns can ripple through the supply chain. An incident at a poultry plant affected feed suppliers, transportation networks, as well as downstream distributors and retailers, FP gave as an example. The Boar’s Head deli meat plant in Jarrett, Virginia that was the source of a listeria outbreak that killed nine people, sickened dozens, and caused significant reputational damage to the company was 44 years old when it was shut down in 2024.

• Meat and poultry processors are feeling the impact of the freezing of federal grants by the Trump administration, according to the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP). Companies that were awarded grants in 2023-24 but not yet received the funds are finding themselves in the middle of expansions and equipment purchases without a way to move forward. The AAMP cites the case of New Hampshire’s Granite State Packing, which was awarded $1.6 million from the USDA under the Local MCAP (Local Meat Capacity) Grant to support independently-owned meat and poultry processing businesses. According to the company, it started construction and ordered more than $600,000 worth of new equipment before learning that grant funds were on hold until further notice. Granite State Packing isn’t alone. Many small and independent producers and farmers have had USDA funding they were counting on frozen by the Trump administration.
• Producer prices for animal slaughtering and processing firms rose 8.4% in July compared to a year ago, after rising 3.4% in the previous July-versus-July annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Industry producer prices hit another record high in July, topping their previous peak in June. In July, retail meat prices rose 5.8% year over year and 1.8% versus the previous month, per the Consumer Price Index. Industry employment grew 1.7% YoY in June, while average industry wages rose 2.5% over the same period to $22.50 per hour, easing from their peak in January, BLS data show.