In total, 167 meat and poultry slaughter and processing facilities received funding to support expanded capacity and efficiency through the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant (MPIRG) program, the USDA announced yesterday.

“Today’s investment supports local and regional meat and poultry processors as they recover from the pandemic and also work to expand capacity,” Vilsack said. “Achieving a Federal Grant of Inspection or operating under a Cooperative Interstate Shipment program allows meat and poultry processors to ship products across state lines, pursue new market opportunities, and better meet consumer and producer demand along the supply chain.”

The funding should help meat and poultry processing businesses cover the costs for improvements such as expanding existing facilities, modernising processing equipment and meeting packaging, labelling, and food safety requirements. These changes will allow these facilities to serve more customers in more markets.

MPIRG is a new program authorised by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. It is jointly administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The program was part of USDA’s comprehensive funding package to help small and very small processing facilities weather the pandemic, compete in the marketplace, and get the support they need to reach more customers.

In June 2021, USDA announced the availability of $55.2 million in MPIRG funding and began accepting applications for a competitive grant award process which resulted in yesterday's awards.