Last updated 2026-08-21
TL;DR
Slaughter other people's livestock in Georgia and hand the meat back, and you run a custom exempt plant under Georgia Department of Agriculture meat inspection. No USDA grant of inspection. No selling that meat. Mark it Not For Sale, keep the plant clean, handle animals humanely, and hold records two years past year-end. Confirm the current license fee and review timing with GDA.
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Georgia?
Yes. Slaughter a neighbor's steer and give the meat back, and you need to be on file with GDA meat inspection as a custom exempt plant. You do not apply for a USDA grant of inspection. Killing only your own animal for your own freezer is a separate exemption entirely.
People mix those two up. Then they take in a neighbor's steer and act shocked when the state wants a file.
The federal custom exemption lives in the Federal Meat Inspection Act at 21 U.S.C. § 623 and in 9 CFR 303.1. Those rules pull you out of continuous inspection. They do not pull you out of sanitation, humane handling, recordkeeping, or the ban on selling the meat. [1][2]
Georgia runs its own meat and poultry inspection program. FSIS lists Georgia among the states that operate a state program that has to stay at least equal to federal rules. [15] Your day-to-day counterpart is the Georgia Department of Agriculture, not a daily federal inspector on your rail.
Call GDA Meat Inspection before you take the first outside animal. A handshake and a borrowed cooler is not a plant.
Confirm the current application name, any fee, and whether they want plans before you pour a floor. I will not invent a GDA fee or a promised turnaround. Those are board facts. They move.
What does custom exempt slaughter mean under federal law?
Custom exempt slaughter is a kill-and-return service. The owner delivers the livestock. You slaughter and cut it. The meat goes back to that owner for the household, nonpaying guests, and employees. You cannot sell it. [1][2]
21 U.S.C. § 623(a) says inspection "shall not apply" to "the custom slaughter by any person, firm, or corporation of cattle, sheep, swine, or goats delivered by the owner thereof for such slaughter" when use is "exclusively for use, in the household of such owner, by him and members of his household and his nonpaying guests and employees." [1]
That sentence is the business.
9 CFR 303.1 puts the same box in the regulations. A custom operator "does not engage in the business of buying or selling any carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat or meat food products of livestock capable of use as human food." [2] You sell a service. You do not sell meat.
Packages get marked as soon as they are prepared. 9 CFR 316.16 requires custom prepared products to be identified as "Not for Sale" and kept that way until the owner picks them up. [3]
Want steaks you can sell by the cut? That is an official inspected plant. Different paper. Different staffing. Custom is not a side door into retail.
Who reviews a custom plant in Georgia, USDA or the state?
GDA meat inspection is the office you actually call. They run the state program. FSIS keeps oversight of that program and publishes the national custom-exempt review policy. [4][5][15]
FSIS Directive 5930.1 is the federal playbook for those reviews. Reviewers look at sanitation, humane handling, misbranding, inedible control, and whether product is leaking into sale channels. [5]
You will not have an inspector on the floor every kill day. That is the point of the exemption. You will get reviewed. Work like someone can walk in unannounced.
Ask GDA three things, in writing. Who walks your circuit. What application they want. Whether they review plans before construction. Save the reply.
A county business license does not cover livestock slaughter. Do not let city hall tell you otherwise.
To see how a neighboring state desks the same federal exemption, the Alabama walkthrough is here: custom exempt slaughter license in Alabama.
Can you sell custom exempt meat in Georgia?
No. Custom exempt meat is not for sale. Not at a farmers market. Not out of a farm-store freezer. Not as "we had it custom cut" retail if you are the plant trying to move boxes to strangers. [1][2][3]
The live animal can change hands. The meat after a custom slaughter cannot be sold by the plant. The exemption only works if that meat is for the owner's household, nonpaying guests, and employees.
A pattern owners use (confirm it with your own lawyer; we are not one) is this. The customer buys the live animal, or an undivided share of a live animal, then books the slaughter as the owner. The plant still stamps Not For Sale. The plant still cannot retail those cuts.
People try to fudge this on Facebook. That is how a review goes badly.
9 CFR 316.16 says custom prepared products "shall be marked immediately after they are prepared and identified as 'Not for Sale.'" [3] The mark is not decoration.
| Path | Sell the meat? | Daily inspector | Core paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal use (your animal, your household) | No | No | Usually no plant file |
| Custom exempt plant | No | Periodic review | GDA file, Not For Sale, records |
| Official inspected plant | Yes, if the grant and labels allow it | Yes | Grant of inspection, HACCP, SSOP |
What paper does Georgia actually want from a custom plant?
Start with GDA meat inspection, not a generic food-service permit. Custom slaughter is livestock slaughter. State meat rules live in Georgia Department of Agriculture Chapter 40-10. [10] Confirm the custom-exempt application path with that section. Do not guess the form name off an old PDF.
Expect an establishment file, a physical plant they can find, and a review against sanitation and humane handling. Official inspected plants file more (HACCP, full SSOP, label approvals). Custom is thinner. It is not zero. [5][6]
On the company side, a domestic Georgia LLC costs $100 to file at the Secretary of State. That fee is public. [11] It is not your meat license.
Zoning, a local business tax certificate, proof of potable water, and a wastewater plan are what stall people. Slaughter effluent is not a household septic hobby. Talk to the county. If you are designing new floor drains, talk to Georgia EPD. I am not going to invent an EPD permit number for your site.
Want the federal custom-exempt citation stack in one binder? CustomExemptPath sells a $249 one-time USDA Custom-Exempt Kit at /start. Use it as a reading packet, then confirm every Georgia item with GDA. We are an independent publisher, not the Department and not a law firm.
Water has to be potable. 9 CFR 416 is blunt about water, sewage, pests, and the building. [6] I'd spend money on a cooler that holds temperature before I spent it on a logo.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Georgia?
Nobody publishes an official Georgia price list for custom kill and cut. Plants set a slaughter fee plus a per-pound cut-and-wrap charge. I will not invent a GDA license fee. Confirm that number with Meat Inspection. A Georgia LLC filing is $100, which is public. [11]
If you are the livestock owner, not the plant, you pay whatever that plant invoices. Ask whether hanging weight or finished weight is the basis. Ask about sausage, patties, rush fees, and no-show charges. Get it in writing before the animal steps off the trailer.
Building the plant? The building is the real check. A usable small custom setup needs restrain, stun, bleed, hide, eviscerate, a hot box, an aging cooler, a cutting room, and freeze capacity. I have not seen an honest public Georgia dataset that pins that to one turnkey number. Anyone who quotes a single figure without seeing your site is selling a brochure.
Wastewater and inedible pickup will dwarf your ink stamps. Budget them first.
Do not copy another state's invoice onto yours. For a sense of how one nearby writeup talks about money, see custom exempt slaughter cost in Alabama. Then call Georgia plants and GDA.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Georgia?
There are two clocks. GDA has no public promised number of days to clear a new custom plant, so confirm timing with Meat Inspection. For an animal already booked, beef often hangs about 7 to 14 days before cut, which is plant practice, not a statute.
I will not invent an approval timeline. Construction, a water sample, cooler install, and a first walk-through can eat a season. I would not promise a customer a kill date until the state has actually been through the place. No article gets to guarantee that for you.
The animal clock is ordinary plant work. Drop-off is often the day before or the morning of slaughter. Beef hangs. Pork and lamb usually move faster. Pickup happens when the cut sheet is done and the boxes are frozen. Ask the plant. Write the hang time on the intake form so nobody argues on day 10.
Fall books fill. Need an October slot? You call in summer. That is the calendar, not a regulation.
Opening from a bare slab? The honest first year is months of build and review, then a slow appointment book. Anyone promising kill day next month from dirt is not being straight.
What facility rules still apply if you are exempt from inspection?
Exempt from continuous inspection is not exempt from a clean plant.
9 CFR 416 is the sanitation performance standard. Custom reviews still chase dirty rooms, bad water, pests, filthy product-contact surfaces, and sewage that runs toward edible areas. [5][6]
9 CFR 416.1 is one sentence worth taping up: "Each official establishment must be operated and maintained in a manner sufficient to prevent the creation of insanitary conditions and to ensure that product is not adulterated." [6] Directive 5930.1 is built around whether the place is insanitary or turning out adulterated or misbranded product, even when you are not an official plant with a grant. [5]
Floors that drain. Walls you can wash. Hot water that actually shows up. A toilet that does not open onto the cut table. Separate inedible. A cooler that holds. Lights that do not dump glass into a carcass.
Do not buy used cafe refrigeration and hope. Meat coolers work harder.
If you cannot describe your wastewater path in one paragraph, you are not ready.
Does humane slaughter still apply at a Georgia custom plant?
Yes. Custom does not waive humane handling.
The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act says, "No method of slaughtering or handling in connection with slaughtering shall be deemed to comply with the public policy of the United States unless it is humane." [7]
9 CFR 313 is the how. Livestock have to be handled and stunned so they are insensible to pain before you shackle and stick, with the ritual-slaughter exception that federal law already writes down if that is actually what you are doing. [8]
FSIS custom exempt reviews look at humane handling. GDA will too. [5]
If the captive bolt is a maybe, stop. A worn stunner is how animals suffer and how you lose the right to operate.
Train the person on the stunner. Write the training down. Replace bolts and cartridges on a schedule, not after a miss in front of a reviewer.
Ritual slaughter, if you offer it, has its own method rules. Do not improvise because a customer asked nicely.
What about poultry, deer, and killing your own cow at home?
Poultry is a different statute. Exemptions sit in 21 U.S.C. § 464 and 9 CFR 381.10. Custom poultry (kill for the owner, return the birds, no sale) is not the producer-grower 1,000-bird or 20,000-bird exemption. Do not mix those boxes on an application. [12][13]
Confirm with GDA how they want a custom poultry room if you add birds to a red-meat plant. Shared tables are how both sides of the business get ugly.
Hunter-killed deer are not FMIA livestock. Plenty of custom plants cut deer in season. Ask GDA what they want for a game room. Farm-raised cervid meat you hope to sell is a different conversation. Do not treat a deer rail as a substitute for inspected livestock slaughter.
On-farm slaughter of your own cattle, sheep, swine, or goats for your household is the personal exemption. FSIS Guideline 2019-0005 walks through when a producer crosses from personal or custom activity into "you need inspection." [14] The crossing is simple. Other people's animals showed up.
Mobile custom units exist in some states. I will not invent a Georgia mobile license. Ask GDA if they will recognize a mobile custom slaughter unit and what construction rules they use.
Still choosing a state? Read how to start custom exempt slaughter in Arkansas and how to start custom exempt slaughter in Arizona before you buy land. The federal box is the same. The front desk is not.
What first-year records will get you in trouble if you skip them?
Keep owner names, livestock identity, slaughter dates, and what went back out the door. If a reviewer cannot tell whose steer that was, you look like a meat seller.
9 CFR 320.1 requires these records to be retained "for a period of 2 years after December 31 of the year in which the transaction to which such records relate occurred." [9] Two years past year-end. Not until the freezer looks empty.
Reviews also look at Not For Sale marks, product leaking into sale channels, and inedible control. [3][5]
I'd keep a kill sheet per lot, a cut sheet the owner signed, a pickup log, cooler temperatures, water tests, stunner maintenance, and a rendering or inedible receipt. A binder beats a memory.
HACCP under 9 CFR 417 is an official-plant system. Custom exempt is not a grant of inspection. GDA can still ask for written sanitation procedures. If they ask, write them. Debating part numbers in the hallway wastes a review.
What would I actually do first if I were opening in Georgia?
Call GDA Meat Inspection and say you want to operate a custom-exempt livestock slaughter plant. Ask for the application, the plan-review expectation, and the name of the person who will walk the building. Do this before a contractor draws a slab. Building first is a waste of money.
Check county zoning the same week. A clean building on land that forbids slaughter is scrap.
Form the LLC if you want that shell. Georgia charges $100 to file Articles of Organization. [11] Get an EIN. Open a bank account that is not your feed bill.
Then water and waste. Then the cooler. Then the rail and restrainers. Then small tools.
Skip the storefront. Your customers are livestock owners. They need a loading alley that does not break legs. They also need a phone number you answer.
Look at how to start custom exempt slaughter in Alabama and custom exempt slaughter license in Colorado if you want two other state desks next to the same federal text.
California is heavier. Only open how to start custom exempt slaughter in California if you might build there instead.
How does Georgia compare if you are still picking a state?
The custom exemption is federal. 21 U.S.C. § 623 and 9 CFR 303.1 apply in every state. [1][2] What changes is who you call, whether the state runs its own MPI program, and how the plan review feels.
Georgia has a state meat and poultry inspection program. [15] Your counterpart is usually a GDA circuit, not a federal inspector assigned to a tiny custom rail.
Alabama, Arkansas, and Colorado each have their own forms. We keep those writeups separate because copying one state's application onto another state's floor is how you redo a drain. See custom exempt slaughter license in Arkansas.
Already own land in Georgia? Stay and do the GDA paper. Moving a plant across a state line to dodge a reviewer is a fantasy.
Want a single packet of the federal custom-exempt citations and checklists after you finish this page? The CustomExemptPath kit is at /start. Read the statute first. Then call the board.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Georgia?
Yes, if you slaughter other people's livestock and return the meat. You work with GDA meat inspection as a custom exempt plant, not under a USDA grant of inspection. Killing only your own animal for your own household is the personal use exemption and is not a custom business. Confirm the current application with GDA before you take in outside animals.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Georgia?
There is no official statewide custom-kill price list. Plants set a slaughter fee plus a per-pound cut-and-wrap charge. I will not invent a GDA license fee; confirm that with Meat Inspection. A domestic Georgia LLC filing is $100 at the Secretary of State. Building, wastewater, and inedible pickup dominate first-year cost.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Georgia?
Licensing time is not a published statewide promise. Confirm current review timing with GDA Meat Inspection. For a booked animal, beef often hangs about 7 to 14 days before cut, which is plant practice, not a statute. Pork and lamb usually move faster. Fall appointments fill early. Do not promise kill dates from a bare slab.
Can I sell custom exempt beef at a Georgia farmers market?
No. Custom exempt meat is not for sale. Federal law limits it to the owner's household, nonpaying guests, and employees, and packages must stay marked Not For Sale. Selling those cuts at a market, a farm store, or online breaks the exemption. If you want retail steaks, you need inspected slaughter and processing.
Do I need HACCP for a custom exempt plant in Georgia?
HACCP under 9 CFR 417 is an official inspected-plant system. Custom exempt is not a grant of inspection. You still need sanitation and humane handling, and GDA can ask for written sanitation procedures. If they ask, write them. Confirm current expectations with Meat Inspection rather than arguing part numbers during a review.
Can I slaughter my own cow on my Georgia farm without a plant license?
Killing your own cattle, sheep, swine, or goats for your own household is the personal use exemption, not a custom business. Once other people's animals show up, you have crossed into custom work. FSIS Guideline 2019-0005 walks through that line. County dead-animal and waste rules can still apply on the farm. Confirm local limits.
Does Georgia license mobile custom slaughter units?
Some states do. I will not invent a Georgia mobile custom license or say they are banned. Ask GDA Meat Inspection whether they will recognize a mobile custom slaughter unit, what construction rules they use, and where the carcass can be cut. Get the answer in writing before you buy a trailer.
What does the Not For Sale mark have to say?
9 CFR 316.16 requires custom prepared products to be marked "Not for Sale" immediately after they are prepared and kept identified that way until delivered to the owner. That mark is how a reviewer tells custom product from retail product. Missing marks are not a paperwork nicety. They look like you are building a sales cooler.
Who do I call at the state to start a custom plant?
Call the Georgia Department of Agriculture meat inspection program. They run the state MPI program and are the desk that will review a custom exempt plant. County zoning and a local business tax certificate sit beside that file, they do not replace it. Ask for the application, plan-review rules, and the circuit contact in writing.
Are custom poultry rules the same as beef in Georgia?
No. Poultry exemptions sit in 21 U.S.C. § 464 and 9 CFR 381.10. Custom poultry (kill for the owner, no sale) is not the 1,000-bird or 20,000-bird producer-grower exemption. If you add birds to a red-meat custom plant, ask GDA how they want the room set up so you do not contaminate both sides of the business.
Can a Georgia custom plant process hunter-killed deer?
Many custom plants cut hunter-killed deer in season. Deer are not FMIA livestock, so this is not the same paper as custom cattle. Ask GDA what they want for a game room and keep deer separate from inspected or custom livestock product. Selling farm-raised venison is a different path and needs its own answers.
Do I need a USDA grant of inspection for custom work?
No. Custom exempt slaughter is exempt from continuous inspection under 21 U.S.C. § 623 and 9 CFR 303.1. You still need to be on the GDA meat inspection radar, keep the place clean, handle livestock humanely, mark product Not For Sale, and keep records. A grant of inspection is what you seek if you want to sell meat.
How long do I keep custom slaughter records in Georgia?
9 CFR 320.1 says required records must be kept for 2 years after December 31 of the year of the transaction. Keep owner names, animal identity, slaughter dates, and what left the plant. A signed cut sheet and a pickup log save arguments. If a reviewer cannot tell whose steer it was, you look like a seller.
Will county zoning stop a custom slaughter plant in Georgia?
It can. A GDA meat file does not override a zoning map that forbids slaughter or commercial livestock processing. Check the county before you pour a floor. Wastewater, well setbacks, and neighbor complaints kill more first-year plants than the federal exemption text. Get the zoning answer in writing.
Sources
- U.S. Code 21 U.S.C. § 623 (Federal Meat Inspection Act exemptions): Custom slaughter of cattle, sheep, swine, or goats delivered by the owner is exempt from FMIA inspection when the meat is only for that owner's household, nonpaying guests, and employees.
- eCFR 9 CFR 303.1 Exemptions: 9 CFR 303.1 restates the custom exemption and bars a custom operator from buying or selling livestock carcasses or meat food products capable of use as human food.
- eCFR 9 CFR 316.16 Custom prepared products: Custom prepared products must be marked Not for Sale immediately after preparation and kept so identified until delivered to the owner.
- USDA FSIS Custom Exempt Review: FSIS describes custom exempt operations as exempt from continuous inspection and subject to custom-exempt review rather than a grant of inspection.
- USDA FSIS Directive 5930.1 Custom Exempt Review: Directive 5930.1 is the federal procedure for reviewing custom exempt facilities for sanitation, humane handling, misbranding, and related compliance.
- eCFR 9 CFR Part 416 Sanitation: 9 CFR 416 requires establishments to be operated so product is not adulterated, including rules on water, sewage, facilities, and insanitary conditions.
- U.S. Code 7 U.S.C. § 1902 Humane Methods of Slaughter Act: Federal public policy requires slaughtering and handling in connection with slaughtering to be humane.
- eCFR 9 CFR Part 313 Humane slaughter of livestock: 9 CFR 313 sets the stunning and handling methods used to meet humane slaughter requirements.
- eCFR 9 CFR 320.1 Records required to be kept: Required meat records must be retained for 2 years after December 31 of the year in which the transaction occurred.
- Georgia Secretary of State Rules Chapter 40-10 Meat: Georgia Department of Agriculture meat inspection rules are codified in Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 40-10.
- Georgia Secretary of State How-To Guide: Limited Liability Company: Filing Articles of Organization for a Georgia domestic LLC costs $100.
- U.S. Code 21 U.S.C. § 464 (Poultry Products Inspection Act exemptions): Poultry custom and producer exemptions are statutory under the PPIA, separate from the FMIA livestock custom exemption.
- eCFR 9 CFR 381.10 Poultry exemptions: 9 CFR 381.10 sets the poultry inspection exemptions, including custom and limited producer-grower volumes.
- USDA FSIS Guideline 2019-0005 on when slaughter requires inspection: FSIS guidance explains when a livestock producer's on-farm slaughter or processing crosses from personal or custom activity into operations that require inspection.
- USDA FSIS State Inspection Programs: FSIS recognizes state meat and poultry inspection programs, including Georgia's, that must be at least equal to federal inspection.