In April, a number of large meat processing factories had to shut down their facilities or restrict operations due to numerous plant workers testing positive for the coronavirus.

These large meat packers process 80% of the meat consumed in this country. As their capacity diminishes, consumers are seeing meat shortages at the grocery store, as well as an increase in prices.

Here in Powell, the two grocery stores in town are managing to find sources of meat for their customers so far.

Mike Belliston, meat manager at Blair’s Super Market, said the store has seen meat allocations reduced from their warehouses, but they’ve been able to source from other suppliers.

Matt Rymer, meat manager at Mr. D’s, said sourcing the meat isn’t as easy as it was before the pandemic, but keeping their shelves filled isn’t the problem.

“It’s not so hard to get meat into the store; it’s a matter of finding reasonable prices,” he said.

The disruption to meat supplies from shutdowns involving just four corporations — Cargill, JBS, National Beef and Tyson — has highlighted the problem with so much red tape involved in meat processing. These laws were meant to ensure food safety for consumers. They had the unintended effect of limiting processing to a few large conglomerates, which has left meat supplies vulnerable when those big processors have to shut down.

Red tape

Several years ago, Wyoming passed the Food Freedom Act (FFA), which permitted people who produce perishable foods — such as eggs, milk, jams and honey — to sell their products without the usual FDA process, on a “buyer beware” understanding. Since the law’s passage in 2015, not a single case of foodborne illness has resulted from it.

“It turns out, small producers do self-regulate,” said Rep. Tyler Lindholm, R-Sundance, who co-sponsored the bill.

Lindholm says that, because of the law, Wyoming’s farmers’ markets are some of the most robust in the nation, with small businesses able to sell their homemade products directly to consumers. The sellers live and die upon their reputation, so they have a built-in incentive to make sure their food is safe.

“If a local small business poisons their customers, that’s it. They’re done,” Lindholm said.

However, the law didn’t apply to meat — until Lindholm co-sponsored an amendment and exploited a loophole to create some direct-to-consumer sales.

Federal law prohibits producers of beef, lamb, pork and catfish to sell directly to consumers.

All butchers of those kinds of meat must contend with a large amount of federal regulation. States are also involved in regulating the slaughter and processing of meat, but federal law requires state laws to be at least as strict as federal regulations.

Roger’s Meat of Powell is inspected by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. Their products can be sold to individuals, restaurants and grocery stores within the state of Wyoming.

Junior Garcia, co-owner of Roger’s Meat Processing, said the business takes a lot of pride in the fact all the meat they sell in their storefront is from Wyoming producers. They have jerkies, hamburger patties and bacon. They also do custom cuts for people.

During this period when people are panic buying, local grocery stores had some limitations on individual meat purchases, but Garcia said Roger’s has never had to institute any limits.

“If the big stores have a shortage, people don’t realize their local butchers have meat,” he said.

Wyoming law requires a state inspector to be at Roger’s the entire time of the slaughter process. The inspector does an anti-mortem inspection while the animal is alive to make sure they are ambulatory and have no signs of illness. The inspector also makes sure there is humane handling during the entire slaughter process. If the carcass meets all of those requirements, the state gives the meat a Wyoming Department of Agriculture inspected and passed stamp.

In order to sell across state lines, the processor needs the feds’ stamp of approval. Legacy Meats in Cody is one such local processor, which permits the company to sell its products online to consumers across the country. They have a USDA inspector through the slaughter process in the same way Roger’s Meat has one from the state, but Roger’s can’t sell across state lines. 

The laws that oversee meat packing were intended to keep food safe, but they also created a lot of barriers to the market. So, not surprisingly, the capacity of local processors is pretty small. Roger’s can only process 16 animals per week. For those who want to process the animals they own, the lead time is a few months.

“People don’t understand we have limited space,” Garcia said.

Monopolies

Ranchers are having a lot of conflicts with the “big four” processors over pricing. This past April, Lindholm and Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, called for an investigation into the big packers over what they said is monopolistic practices.

Despite surges in meat purchases as people hoarded meat at the grocery store, ranchers were seeing some of the lowest prices in four years. But the big four profits are soaring.

Lloyd Thiel, who ranches in Clark, said large producers in the state with 400 to 500 head of cows are making an income of $16,000.

“You can’t feed a family on that,” said Thiel, who is also a Park County commissioner.

With such profits to be made in meat processing, it would seem a great time for entrepreneurs to set up more processing capacity, but those regulations are not making it easy to open a local butcher shop.

“Well intended regulation to create food safety created barriers to entry for small businesses in the market,” Lindholm said. “The end result is to stop our local food producers from selling their goods.”

Ever since the Food Freedom Act passed the Wyoming Legislature, Lindholm searched for a way to make it apply to meat — and he finally found a solution by exploiting a provision in federal law.

It’s legal for the owner of a cow, pig, lamb, or catfish — including the producer — to slaughter and process an animal or pay someone to do it. They just can’t resell or donate the meat. So, if someone has space for hundreds of pounds of meat in their freezer, they can buy a cow from a rancher and go to town with it. For most people, that’s not feasible or even practical.

However, an amendment to the Food Freedom Act that took effect in July 2019 allows consumers to buy an interest in the herd. Basically, the rancher can sell shares of the herd, which essentially makes the shareholders owners of the animal before slaughter.

It’s a rather nuanced law that isn’t convenient for most families who just want a few pounds of hamburger, and it illustrates how difficult it is for a rancher to get meat to a consumer.

“It’s the dumbest law I’ve ever run,” Lindholm said. “I thought about this for six G——ed years.”

While the laws are aimed at food safety, when you really break it all down, he said there’s more going on. After all, the regulation’s don’t apply to poultry; a chicken producer can slaughter a thousand chickens on his patio and sell the meat raw, cooked or in a chicken pot pie.

“If it was entirely about safety, the law would be consistent,” Lindholm said.

The meat shortages are likely to pass as the pandemic does. However, the regulations will continue to leave Wyoming cattle producers at the mercy of a few large corporations who control most of the meat people eat.