Can You Sell Meat From Your Farm in California? What Farmers Need to Know

Selling meat directly from your California farm sounds straightforward — you raise the animal, you process it, you sell it. In practice, the rules are layered, and the path you can legally take depends entirely on which species you raise, where the animal is slaughtered, and how you plan to sell the finished product.

California operates under a dual-oversight system involving both federal and state regulators. Getting the details wrong can mean your meat cannot legally change hands — or that you face fines and product seizures. This guide walks you through every major rule you need to understand before your first sale.

Pro Tip: Before spending money on processing, confirm your intended sales channel first. The slaughter facility you need depends on whether you plan to sell direct-to-consumer, at a farmers market, or wholesale to restaurants and stores — and those channels have very different requirements.

Can You Sell Meat From Your Farm in California?

Yes — but only under specific conditions. The ability to legally sell domestic meat and meat products depends on where the animal will be harvested. This single factor — the slaughter facility — determines nearly everything else about what you can and cannot do with your product.

In California there are three types of slaughter facilities: federally inspected, state inspected, and custom exempt. Of these, only federally inspected facilities allow for the retail sale of meat. That means if your beef, pork, lamb, or goat goes through a custom exempt plant, you cannot sell it — period. You can only use it for your own household or share it with non-paying guests and employees.

The good news is that poultry operates under a separate set of rules with more flexibility for small farms. If you raise chickens, turkeys, ducks, or other birds, you have multiple legal pathways available, including on-farm processing exemptions that do not require a federal inspector on-site. For a broader overview of how farm meat sales work across the country, see selling meat from your farm.

Federal Inspection Requirements That Apply in California

Federal inspection is provided by the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), which is required by law to provide inspection for all federally regulated processing facilities. Without an inspector present, the establishment cannot process cattle, hogs, or poultry. USDA inspectors are required to inspect all live animals prior to harvest at the slaughter facility and perform additional inspections post-harvest.

USDA-slaughtered animals can be sold to restaurants, grocery store meat departments, specialty meat markets, and sold retail on-site. This is the only route that opens up all sales channels — direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and interstate commerce. If you plan to sell beef or pork to a restaurant or grocery store in California, USDA inspection is not optional.

Key Insight: Meat sold for resale — meaning it will be purchased by a business and then resold to consumers — must come from a USDA-inspected facility. State-licensed or custom-exempt processing does not qualify for wholesale or resale channels.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) requires licensing of businesses, including retail food establishments, that make meat products for sale only direct to consumer. Meat products sold for resale must be made at a USDA-inspected facility. Understanding this distinction between direct-to-consumer and resale is one of the most important things you can do before choosing a processing path. Farmers in other states face similar federal requirements — see how it plays out in Texas farm meat sales and Wisconsin farm meat sales for comparison.

Does California Have Its Own Meat Inspection Program?

Yes. The CDFA’s Meat, Poultry and Egg Safety Branch (MPES) licenses and inspects meat, poultry, and egg production establishments that are exempt from federal USDA inspection, including Retail Processing Establishments, Custom Livestock Slaughterhouses, Retail and Non-Retail Poultry Plants, Mobile Slaughter Operations, and Registered Livestock Producers.

State inspection programs operate under a cooperative agreement with USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services. The difference between the two approaches is that state inspection programs only allow for meat processed in these facilities to be sold within the state — “intrastate” — while FSIS-inspected facilities can export meat to other states, or “interstate.” In plain terms: state-inspected meat stays in California.

CDFA MPES does not inspect all meat and poultry processing in California. It only licenses and inspects Meat Processing Establishments that are exempt from federal inspection and that prepare meat and poultry products by curing, smoking for preservation, drying, or rendering, for direct-to-consumer sales at the retail level only. Processing of meat and poultry that will be distributed or sold for resale offsite is regulated by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services.

If you want to sell cured sausages, smoked meats, or dried products directly to consumers at your farm store or a farmers market, a CDFA MPES license is the route to pursue. For a deeper look at how state programs compare, the CDFA Meat, Poultry and Egg Safety Branch publishes current licensing requirements and contacts.

The Custom Slaughter Exemption in California

Custom slaughter is one of the most misunderstood options for California livestock farmers. It sounds like a shortcut — have the animal processed locally without full USDA oversight — but it comes with a hard restriction that many farmers do not realize until it is too late.

Custom Livestock Slaughterhouses licensed by CDFA slaughter cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and fallow deer raised or bought live by owners. The meat from cattle, sheep, swine, and goats is used by the animal’s owner, members of the owner’s household, nonpaying guests, and employees. It cannot be sold.

Mobile or itinerant custom slaughterers are businesses that provide on-farm slaughter for persons who raise animals. In California, these businesses must be registered with the CDFA. Meat products from animals slaughtered in this way are intended for the owner’s household consumption only or for the consumption of non-paying guests and non-paying employees. The meat can be further processed by a processor or butcher, but neither the carcass nor the meat can be sold.

There is one notable exception: fallow deer meat can be transported and sold in commerce. For all other common livestock species — cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats — the custom route is strictly for personal use, not sales.

California does allow a “cow-share” workaround for beef. With AB 2114, ranchers can now sell customers a whole or partial steer. This type of transaction is possible if a customer purchases the live animal directly from the rancher prior to slaughter and the consumer pays the harvesting facility for harvesting and cut-and-wrap services directly. The key distinction: the customer is buying a live animal, not processed meat. If you raise meat sheep breeds and want to explore similar arrangements, confirm the legality of any live-animal sale agreement with CDFA before proceeding. You can also review how neighboring states handle this in our guide to selling farm meat in Missouri.

Selling Poultry From Your Farm in California

Poultry producers in California can process birds and sell poultry meat through one of four different legal approaches to poultry inspection, or through exemption from inspection. This gives small poultry farms significantly more flexibility than livestock operations. Whether you raise meat chicken breeds, turkey breeds for meat, or meat rabbits, the pathway you use will depend on your annual volume and sales channels.

The Under-1,000-Bird Exemption

Poultry producers who qualify for a USDA exemption and meet the criteria for one of the two California exemptions from inspection may slaughter and sell up to 1,000 birds per year directly to consumers within the state, without formal registration. CDFA inspection exemptions allow for poultry to be processed either with only immediate family labor (sold to consumers on-farm, off-farm at customers’ homes, or at a farmers market) or with employees when the entire production is sold directly from the farm (not for resale).

Exempt products are not considered to be from an “approved source” and may not be sold to hotels, restaurants, or institutions. This is a critical limit for anyone hoping to supply local restaurants or school food programs. If that is your goal, you need either a USDA-inspected facility or a CDFA-licensed poultry plant.

The 1,000-to-20,000-Bird Range

Between 1,000 and 20,000 annual birds, production numbers, total dollar amount of sales, percentage limitations, and other requirements do apply for more than 1,000 birds produced or processed up to 20,000 birds and are specific to the federal exemption which the processor is claiming to be operating under during a calendar year. CDFA is contracted with USDA to make sure exempt poultry operations processing 1,000 or more poultry per year are complying with USDA requirements.

Under the California Food and Agricultural Code, rabbits are classified under poultry. Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, rabbits are classified as non-amenable species and are exempt from USDA inspection. CDFA MPES licenses and inspects poultry plants that slaughter non-amenable species such as rabbits and small game birds like quail, pheasant, and partridge, which may be sold to household consumers as well as hotels, restaurants, and institutions. If you raise rabbits or small game birds, a CDFA-licensed poultry plant opens the full commercial market to you. For tips on getting a poultry operation off the ground, see starting a backyard poultry farming business. California also has specific quail species worth knowing about if you plan to raise game birds.

Important Note: The 1,000-bird exemption applies per farm, not per farmer. If multiple family members raise birds on the same property, the total limit is still 1,000 birds for that entire farm in a calendar year.

Where You Can Sell Farm Meat in California

Where you can legally sell your meat is directly tied to how it was processed. The table below summarizes the most common sales channels and the processing requirement for each.

Sales Channel	Processing Required	Applies To
Direct on-farm sales (livestock)	USDA-inspected facility	Beef, pork, lamb, goat
Farmers markets (livestock)	USDA-inspected facility	Beef, pork, lamb, goat
Restaurants and grocery stores	USDA-inspected facility	All species
Direct on-farm sales (poultry, under 1,000 birds)	On-farm, no formal registration required	Chickens, turkeys, ducks
Farmers markets (poultry, under 1,000 birds)	On-farm exempt processing (family labor only)	Chickens, turkeys, ducks
Cured/smoked products, direct-to-consumer only	CDFA MPES-licensed facility	Beef, pork, lamb, goat, poultry
Cow-share / live-animal sale	Custom exempt facility (buyer pays processor)	Cattle (AB 2114)

Poultry — including chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, other domesticated birds, small game birds, and rabbits — raised by the seller or a known source may be sold at farmers markets if animals were slaughtered at USDA, USDA-exempt, or CDFA/MPES-licensed facilities and they are properly labeled.

For sales of non-MPES-inspected meat or meat products from an individual’s home or property directly to the consumer or at farmers markets, requirements are determined by county ordinances where the point of sale is located. Always check with your county’s agricultural commissioner or environmental health department before setting up a sales booth. You can also review how sales rules work in a neighboring state like Arkansas for a useful comparison.

Licenses and Permits You May Need in California

The licenses you need depend on your species, your processing method, and your sales channel. There is no single permit that covers everything — expect to deal with multiple agencies at both the state and county level.

• CDFA MPES Retail Processing Establishment License: Required if you produce cured, smoked, dried, or rendered meat products for direct-to-consumer retail sales. Establishments making these products must be licensed by CDFA and must have a Processing Inspector on site when the product is being made. Product formulation and label must be approved as part of the application process.
• CDFA Custom Livestock Slaughter Registration: Required for mobile or on-farm slaughter operations. Note that meat from these operations cannot be sold.
• CDFA Poultry Plant License: Required if you process poultry for sale to restaurants, grocery stores, or distributors. Any poultry producer of non-amenable species that intends to sell to restaurants, grocery stores, or middlemen such as distributors, wholesalers, or jobbers is required to have the poultry slaughtered by a licensed MPES Poultry Slaughter Plant.
• USDA Custom Exempt Poultry Establishment Registration: Required if you process between 1,000 and 20,000 birds per year under a federal exemption. CDFA is contracted with USDA to make sure exempt poultry operations processing 1,000 or more poultry per year are complying with USDA requirements.
• County Health / Environmental Health Permit: Required for any vendor preparing or serving food at a Certified Farmers’ Market, issued by the County Environmental Health Department.
• CDFA Organic Registration: Required for all entities that raise, grow, store, transport, and sell organic products. CDFA Organic Registration is required of every entity engaged in production or handling of raw organic products.
• USDA Organic Certification: If gross sales of organic product exceed $5,000 or if the business wants to use the USDA Organic seal, they must obtain organic certification from an approved third-party certifier.

The CDFA’s Animal Health and Food Safety Services division maintains the full licensing portal for meat, poultry, and related permits at cdfa.ca.gov.

Labeling Requirements in California

Every package of meat you sell must be labeled correctly, and the requirements vary depending on how the meat was processed and what species it came from.

Each package of meat must include a label, and the label of any cut of beef, veal, lamb, or pork should identify the species and must identify the cut from which it is derived — such as loin, flank, or chuck/shoulder — and the retail name if applicable, such as tri-tip.

Requirements for meat and poultry product packaging materials can be found in Section 909.11 of the California Code of Regulations. For poultry processed under the federal 20,000-bird exemption, shipping containers must bear the producer’s name, the producer’s address, and the statement “Exempt P.L. 90-492.” There are no labeling requirements for poultry processed under the 1,000-bird exemption.

If you want to use marketing claims on your labels — such as “grass-fed,” “no antibiotics,” or “pasture-raised” — those claims carry their own documentation requirements. A marketing label bearing claims such as “grass-fed” or “no antibiotics” must meet United States Standards for Livestock and Meat Marketing Claims. Claims like “regenerative” or “sustainable” must also be submitted to USDA FSIS for approval with supporting documentation.

For organic labeling specifically: the term “organic” can only be used if registered by CDFA. Do not use the word on any label or signage until your registration is confirmed. The UC Agriculture Ombudsperson’s guide to selling locally grown meat provides a detailed breakdown of labeling standards verified by the Sonoma County Department of Agriculture and CDFA.

Common Mistake: Applying marketing claims like “grass-fed” or “naturally raised” to your labels without submitting them for USDA FSIS approval. Even if the claim is accurate, using it without approval can result in a labeling violation.

Who to Contact in California Before You Start Selling

California’s regulatory system involves multiple agencies, and the right contact depends on your species and your intended sales channel. Use the list below as your starting point — and plan to contact more than one agency, since most farms fall under overlapping jurisdictions.

• CDFA Meat, Poultry and Egg Safety Branch (MPES): Your primary state contact for licensing custom slaughter facilities, retail processing establishments, and poultry plants. Reach MPES at 1220 N Street, Sacramento, California 95814, telephone (916) 900-5004. Their website at cdfa.ca.gov/AHFSS/MPES lists current application forms and requirements.
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): Contact FSIS directly for questions about federal inspection, the 1,000- and 20,000-bird poultry exemptions, and USDA-inspected facility requirements. The ATTRA publication on processing poultry meat in California is also a reliable resource for navigating federal exemption rules.
• County Agricultural Commissioner: Required for Certified Producer Certificates if you plan to sell at certified farmers markets. County requirements vary significantly — what applies in Los Angeles County may differ from Fresno or Humboldt County.
• County Environmental Health Department: Contact this office for farmers market booth permits, food handler requirements, and local zoning approvals for on-farm processing. In some counties, processing meat for sale on non-commercially zoned parcels requires a use permit, and possibly building, electrical, and plumbing permits.
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW): CDFA MPES only regulates the processing of meat and poultry products from amenable species such as cattle, swine, sheep, and goats. Wild game and exotic meat processing are regulated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Starting the licensing and permit process early — ideally three to six months before your target sales date — gives you time to address any facility upgrades, zoning approvals, or label reviews that regulators may require. For a comprehensive look at how farm meat regulations work across different states, the main farm meat sales guide is a useful reference alongside California-specific resources from UC ANR’s Niche Marketing Livestock in California program.