So I for now have pt rabbits for pet rabbit breeding but my original plan was to get meat rabbits,Here is my problem i cant find a solid law that tells me if I can sell or not with out inspection some people say yes and soe people say no.I can NOT find it anywhere on the internet I can find other states laws and Nashville laws but not Tennessee laws in general.What I want to do is sell for raw pet food,reptile food,and possibly human food (and sell some live rabbits as breeders or pets to other people).Even if i cant sell the meat the meat rabbits are more profitable here then the pet rabbits for some reason.I also have a pelt buyer in Alaska that will pay for sipping plus 5 dollars for the pelt but my question is is it illegal to ship pelts across state lines?If anyone has any answers to any of the questions I would LOVE to know i have been searching for a year and i like to stay on the right side of the law.Even when i contact officials they give me the run around why is this so secretive? :?
Tennessee meat rabbit laws?
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cmfarm
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Have you tried doing a search on your states department of health website? That is usually where they talk about stuff like that.
<br /><br /> __________ Mon May 18, 2015 7:11 am __________ <br /><br /> Just looked on there all I could find where dog and cat dealer things so im back to square one :/
I believe this is the department you will need to contact.
http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/regulator ... airy.shtml
http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/regulator ... airy.shtml
BirchLane
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Hello, fellow Tennessean! You'll find the answers you're looking for here: http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/article/a ... food-dairy
Here's a quick n' dirty rundown of how it goes here in the Volunteer State:
- All meat sold for human consumption in TN must be processed at a USDA approved facility
- You may sell meats that have been processed at a USDA facility at your farm; that is, you can raise your own animals, send them out to a USDA facility for processing, and then sell the processed meat at your farm as a "retail location."
- You can sell whole and/or self-processed rabbits as pet food.
There are a couple of loop holes in the regulations. I am not saying whether you should make use of them, only that they exist.
- If someone buys a processed rabbit from you as pet food, but then chooses to eat it themselves, that's on them.
- If someone buys a live rabbit from you, then returns it to you for processing as a "favor," that's on them.
I see the "pet food" loop hole being used fairly often when it comes to selling raw, unpasteurized goat milk. The risk falls on the consumer in that situation, since the item wasn't being marketed as suitable for human consumption.
Here's a quick n' dirty rundown of how it goes here in the Volunteer State:
- All meat sold for human consumption in TN must be processed at a USDA approved facility
- You may sell meats that have been processed at a USDA facility at your farm; that is, you can raise your own animals, send them out to a USDA facility for processing, and then sell the processed meat at your farm as a "retail location."
- You can sell whole and/or self-processed rabbits as pet food.
There are a couple of loop holes in the regulations. I am not saying whether you should make use of them, only that they exist.
- If someone buys a processed rabbit from you as pet food, but then chooses to eat it themselves, that's on them.
- If someone buys a live rabbit from you, then returns it to you for processing as a "favor," that's on them.
I see the "pet food" loop hole being used fairly often when it comes to selling raw, unpasteurized goat milk. The risk falls on the consumer in that situation, since the item wasn't being marketed as suitable for human consumption.
BirchLane":1ytg3hn7 said:
I do this in Texas .... I sell the animal live and process it for the purchaser in exchange for the hide. What they do with it after that point is up to them.
Being a very small rabbitry (11 holes) I don't sell much and only have a couple repeat customers so I'm not doing much if any advertising. 18 months or so in , so far , so good.
Incorrect. Meat sold for human consumption in TN must be complaint with both the Tennessee Meat and Poultry Inspection Act and Federal Meat Inspection Act. The Tennessee Meat and Poultry Inspection Act itself, however, does not impose any requirements that rabbit meat need to be inspected beyond the Federal Meat Inspection Act, so then rabbit meat only needs to be compliant with the Federal Meat Inspection act.
However, the Federal Meat Inspection act covers only swine, cattle, sheep, and goats. There are no Federal requirements for inspections of any kind of rabbit and are entirely voluntary. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/meat/rabbit-farm-table
As neither Tennessee nor the Federal government imposes restrictions on rabbit meat inspections, there's no requirement to use a USDA approved facility.
As mentioned above, I find the easiest method for most anything on my place is to sell it "not for human consumption"
When I was doing milk a few years ago I called the state and the person on the phone actually suggested I do it that way.
Maybe rabbit meat has no need or regulation, maybe no one would say anything or maybe they would and you'd have to pull out documentation to prove how right you are, but then again I say lots of sentences throughout the day . Adding one more is not a problem. " not for human consumption "
When I was doing milk a few years ago I called the state and the person on the phone actually suggested I do it that way.
Maybe rabbit meat has no need or regulation, maybe no one would say anything or maybe they would and you'd have to pull out documentation to prove how right you are, but then again I say lots of sentences throughout the day . Adding one more is not a problem. " not for human consumption "
