Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program

USDA is making grant funding available to meat and poultry processors for start-up and expansion. The objective is to provide more and better processing options to producers as soon as possible.

Eligible applicants, which include an individual sole proprietor business and other business entities, must engage or propose to engage in meat and poultry processing which will expand capacity in the sector. Entities are eligible regardless of legal structure and may include, but are not limited to, federally recognized tribes, tribal entities, for-profit entities, corporations, non-profit entities, producer-owned cooperatives and corporations, certified benefit corporations, and State or local government entities. Private entities must be independently owned and operated. All entities must be domestically owned, and their meat and poultry processing facilities (existing or planned) must be physically located and operated within the U.S. or its territories. Eligible applicants must process or plan to process one or more species subject to the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) or the Poultry Product Inspection Act (PPIA) and possess or plan to obtain a Federal Grant of Inspection, a grant of inspection under a Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, or a tribal or state meat and poultry inspection program with standards at least equal to Federal inspection at the time of application. Plants processing non-amenable species under voluntary Food Safety and Inspection Service inspection are also eligible to apply for funding. Eligible applicants, including affiliates of the...

As part of a complete application, applicants are required to provide a narrative describing their project. The application narrative will be scored against the four categories of evaluation criteria described below: Financial Viability, Technical Feasibility, and Readiness. Market Impact and Opportunities. Community Impact and Support. Labor and Workforce Personnel. More points will be awarded to applications that address how the project will support the goals of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program in their response to each category of criteria.