Just to be clear, they didn’t send an inspector out to check out my garage or kitchen or anything – they called and asked a bunch of questions, and were apparently quickly satisfied that what I was doing was above board. I called them again this morning to ask some more questions of my own, and had a chance to chat more about the problems they run into. Sound like they get the odd guy operating a meat-cutting shop illegally, which they understandably need to look into. Glad I’m not that guy!

This situation has made me extremely curious about what exactly the legalities surrounding meat handling at home actually are. Far from an expert myself, I’ve made some phone calls and am doing some homework and will report back when I’m a bit wiser about where the lines in the sand are that shouldn’t be toyed with, and offer some resources to allow folks to look into it if they have questions about compliance.

Meat law. Not something I thought I’d be involved with when studying finance.

- On my parenting blog two years ago I was actually monitored because of terms on the site, we figured out, I had posted an article relating to Japanese Beer for Kids.(don’t ask) The wording triggered something, and I could see the same odd looking IP checking in on my site daily for a couple weeks, which when searched came back to a city’s police department. Said it there right on the IP info! Weird, but it happened. The internet is more heavily monitored then I care to think about some days, most of it good but not all. You could have words and terms that are monitored by the government, now isn’t that freaking creepy to think about.

- There is always some one who disagrees with what you are doing and the web just lets the crazies come out of the woodwork.

- Where there’s money to be made, the government wants a cut. You also are in the Edmonton Journal too, bringing an audience that perhaps wouldn’t have found you otherwise. Fame baby, makes everyone want a piece of you :)

Another thought is perhaps it isn’t you, but a place you bought an animal from that is being investigated? People can ask a lot of questions to mask the 3 or 4 that they really want the information about, like where you got the meat and if you harvested the animal there.

Well done on handling it, I am sure it was with more grace than I would have. I am not surprised at all, but now you are on good terms with your local inspector, not a bad thing at all!

I actually called my inspector to get the reasons, so I could explain when asked. It’s a safety thing: the meat inspectors at the abbatoir will check for disease in the carcass and confirm it is safe to eat – a sheep may have been sickly, but as a farmer, who kept the sheep here for at least the last 30 days, I would have known if it was well or not. If someone just shows up and takes the animal I point out – well, I could have given them a sick one that wasn’t safe to eat … and as amateur butchers, they would not necessarily check for all the signs of problems in the carcass. That’s the meat inspector’s job – which is why you picked up your whole carcasses at the abbatoir, with the stamp already on them saying “safe to eat”.

This is, as I understand it, a fairly big issue in the local lamb and goat markets … the animals are fairly easy to transport and so people go to a farm, buy one, and take it home to slaughter in their backyard (also not legal, unless they keep the animal for a month).

I’m very thankful to have a local butcher I like and trust (yay for Skinner’s Meats in Onoway!) as I’ve not the time or skill to do the meat cutting myself (and we *do* resell most of our meat). I’ve enjoyed your butchering posts though – some day, we may do some meat cutting of our own (probabaly hunted game).

We have a group of friends who get together and make sausages, salamis and bacon and we all pitch in with the work and share the rewards. We call it ‘The Oder of Meat and Wine’ purely a forum to showcase both. We debated to open this up to a more public crowd but found that we would need commercial licenses and a commercially approved space to create our charcuterie. Needless to say we decide to keep it fun and just invite new people who haven’t had the opportunity to make these delicious items. The hand of the man can help you up or put you down. When it comes to food safety I see the need, absolutely, but most of it is about money and how they can generate funds from permit fees or taxes on finished products.

I have been creating my plan for my wood oven. Your posts inspired me. I will share the progress as it goes along.

Yummo!

Alan

At any rate, kudos to you for putting such a positive spin on the experience. Keep on butchering!