Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU)
Would you like to raise chicken to sell at farmers' markets, your farmstand, through a CSA program, or to restaurants, but are having trouble finding a facility that will process your birds? Are you unsure how to do this legally and meet all the appropriate regulatory and food safety requirements?
There is now a viable option to process your birds on your own farm for direct to consumer sales in Massachusetts. Under the USDA Producer-Processor exemption (pdf), you can legally process your own birds that you have raised on your farm provided that the facility and process you use meets all USDA and Massachusetts Department of Public Health sanitary guidelines for poultry establishments. New Entry and the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) have partnered together to develop a regulatory process to approve a Mobile Poultry Processing Unit for commercial use by small-scale poultry producers in Massachusetts. With funding from USDA Rural Development, the Massachusetts Society of Promoting Agriculture, the Massachusetts Agricultural Innovation Center, USDA's SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) Program, and the generosity of individual donors, New Entry and the Small Farm Institute have a working MPPU available for producers who have completed a required training program to lease and use on their farms. The existing unit is owned by NESFI in Belchertown, MA and New Entry is currently raising money to construct a second MPPU for use in Eastern, MA. Click here to learn how you can support our fundraising efforts to build another MPPU.
The MPPU is a poultry "slaughterhouse on wheels" that travels from farm to farm and producers can lease the unit to process their own birds on their farm for direct markets, provided they meet all the regulatory requirements and have received appropriate food safety and MPPU operations training. The MPPU comes with poultry cones, a rotary scalder and plucker, chill tubs, hot-water hand wash sinks, and eviscerating stations. The producer is responsible for all labor; electrical, water, and propane hookups; an approved on-farm location; composting or appropriate solid waste and wastewater handling systems; labeling, packaging, weighing; and cold storage. Each producer must apply for a state slaughter license from the Mass Department of Public Health and receive local board of health approval from their town.
To learn more about how you can access the MPPU, support construction of a second unit in Mass, or to attend the required MPPU training, please contact Jennifer Hashley at 617-636-3793 or by email at: jennifer.hashley@tufts.edu.