For Ben Michael, his dream was to open a meat processing facility in Russell County to make life easier for farmers and to feed his neighbors. In March 2022, that dream became a reality when he partnered with Kyle McMaster.
"We both had our own small farms and wanted to raise animals for ourselves, for meat primarily, but also trying to figure out how we could sell it to others," Michael told 1819 News.
After crunching the numbers, the two put $6,000 together and leased a facility in the middle of the farm pastures in Seale.
However, being in a pasture brought with it challenges, including rodents. Those rodents would ultimately shut down the facility for good, crushing the farmers' dreams. But Michael said the State has made it nearly impossible for a processor to stay in business and be successful.
After being State-inspected for approximately a year, the business became USDA-inspected to sell to neighboring Georgia.
"So, they found evidence of mouse droppings and essentially shut us down for five days completely where we couldn't do anything and we had to do a bit of paperwork, revise our pest control plan, and had a lot of back and forth with the district office in Jackson, Mississippi, who is kind of the primary oversight above the inspectors," Michael explained. "And so, after about three weeks of back and forth with submitting paperwork and getting requests for additional information, they finally approved us to get back under inspection."
But a follow-up inspection found evidence of rodents, and the business was suspended for a second time. Michael said they put approximately $2,000 into repairs to seal up the building and took additional measures to resume slaughter and processing. The Russell County Butchery has resumed work.
Every time an animal was slaughtered, a USDA inspector had to be present. During a pig slaughter, the business was cited for an egregious humane handling violation due to an ineffective stun on a pig.
"So, that was a really big violation for them," Michael said. "So, we received a suspension for that."
The pig stunning protocols were closely examined, and changes were made, allowing the business to resume work. However, Michael said it seemed they continued to receive non-compliance records.
"They were becoming more and more frequent, and they seem to be more and more asinine, if I could describe them that way," Michael explained. "And so, almost like they were looking for things, and whenever we would ask about them, you know, a lot of times the response we would get would be, 'Well, I'm just doing my job."
While the USDA did the inspections, the State declared the facility was a threat to public health.
Michael told 1819 News the rodent activity was discovered on the floors in a hallway and a closet. He said mice were captured in traps, proving the mitigation was effective.
Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate told 1819 News the State has a cooperative agreement with the USDA to do meat facility inspections. He said this facility is the only one the State has shut down in seven years. He said the State had to take extreme measures to protect the public.
"This was our last resort, and this has just crossed the line," said Pate. "We can't allow stuff that's unsafe to enter the food supply chain. I mean, that would undermine everyone's trust in everything they ate."
State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Frazier said large rats and insects were found on the processing floor.
"This particular plant has had several non-compliance events over the last two or three months," said Frazier. "So, this has not just happened; we didn't just walk in there and all of a sudden shut them down. We've been trying to work with them, and their program for pest control is just not working. So, what brought this to a head was a live rat was on like a glue board, sticky board thing in the processing plant."
Frazier said that any sightings of rodents pose a danger to public health.
"When a mouse or a rat, when they're moving along, they are, and please excuse my language here, but they're urinating and defecating all along the way," Frazier explained. "So, that's just how they know where they've been. It marks their territory. So that's why we, again, we have to take action."
Rodent urine and fecal droppings can cause bacterial infections and diseases, Frazier said.
Still, Frazier said the State is willing to work with The Russell County Butchery to have them conduct another comprehensive cleanup and revise their policies to become compliant.
Michael said customers never complained and understood the challenges of an older building with little technology. He said he felt they were just never able to meet the sanitation expectations of inspectors.
"When we asked them if there any recourse for us to try to fix something to get open back up, they basically said that they have done all that we could do and this has been an ongoing problem and that they don't foresee any way that we could address it sufficiently to reopen at this location," Michael said.
So, the decision was made to permanently close the facility.
"We do believe that we were having a really positive impact on agriculture and just providing for our community, and so to see our customers and farmers and producers now kind of be without an option for getting locally sourced food, that's what's really frustrating to us," Michael added. "Obviously, losing our source of income and a way to provide for our families also."
"I mean, we've really poured our heart and soul into it, and so, we were definitely burnt out from trying to make it work," he said.
Pate said the meat processing business has expanded in Alabama thanks to a $15 million federal grant that allows for low-interest loans. There are now over 100 processors across the state.
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