The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the primary regulator of meat, poultry, and egg products in the United States, operating through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). But the full picture is more complicated: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also plays a significant role, particularly with shell eggs, low-meat-content products, and certain specialty meats. The division of responsibilities between these two agencies depends on the type of product, how much meat it contains, and even what animal species it comes from.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service
FSIS is the agency most people think of when it comes to meat and poultry safety. It operates under three major federal laws: the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act. Together, these laws give FSIS authority over beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, catfish, and processed egg products like liquid, frozen, and dried eggs.
The level of oversight is intensive. Federal inspection personnel must be physically present at all times during livestock slaughter operations. For facilities that do further processing (turning carcasses into cuts, ground meat, sausages, and other products), an inspector must be on-site for at least part of every shift. This continuous inspection requirement is one of the key differences between USDA-regulated products and those overseen by the FDA, which generally relies on periodic facility inspections.
FSIS also requires prior approval of product labels before meat and poultry items can be sold. Manufacturers submit labels through an electronic system, and FSIS reviews them for accuracy in claims like “organic,” “natural,” or “no antibiotics.” The FDA, by contrast, generally enforces labeling rules after products are already on shelves.
Where the FDA Steps In
The FDA’s role in this system is broader than most people realize. Under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA regulates the production, transportation, and storage of shell eggs, the ones you buy in a carton at the grocery store. This includes setting requirements for on-farm safety practices designed to prevent Salmonella contamination, as well as refrigeration standards during shipping and retail storage.
Once eggs are cracked and processed into liquid, frozen, or powdered egg products, however, oversight shifts to USDA’s FSIS under the Egg Products Inspection Act. FSIS requires continuous inspection at plants that process these products, similar to its oversight of meat slaughter facilities. So a single egg can move between two different regulatory agencies depending on whether it stays in its shell.
The FDA also regulates meat products that contain relatively small amounts of meat. The dividing line is surprisingly specific: FDA oversees products with 3% or less raw meat, less than 2% cooked meat, or 30% or less fat, tallow, or meat extract. Above those thresholds, the product falls under USDA jurisdiction. A beef-flavored soup with a small amount of meat in it, for example, is an FDA product. A beef stew with chunks of meat is a USDA product.
Specialty and Exotic Meats
The species of animal also determines which agency is in charge. USDA’s authority under the Federal Meat Inspection Act covers cattle, sheep, swine, and goats. The Poultry Products Inspection Act covers chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and other domestic poultry. Catfish was added to FSIS jurisdiction separately. But meats from animals outside these categories, including bison, venison, rabbit, elk, and other game, fall under FDA regulation. FSIS does publish consumer guidance on some of these species (rabbit and bison, for instance), but primary regulatory authority for game meats sits with the FDA.
Imported Meat, Poultry, and Eggs
Imports add another layer. Two USDA agencies are involved: APHIS (the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) and FSIS. APHIS acts as the first gatekeeper, restricting products from countries with active animal disease outbreaks. Shell eggs, for instance, must meet APHIS entry requirements designed to keep agricultural pests and diseases out of the country.
Once a shipment clears customs and APHIS requirements, it must be reinspected by FSIS at an approved import inspection facility. FSIS verifies that imported meat, poultry, and egg products meet the same safety, labeling, and packaging standards as domestic products. A foreign processing plant cannot export to the U.S. unless FSIS has determined that the exporting country’s inspection system is equivalent to the American one.
State Inspection Programs
Not all meat and poultry passes through the federal system. States can operate their own inspection programs under cooperative agreements with FSIS, provided their standards are “at least equal to” federal requirements. Twenty-seven states currently run such programs.
The catch: meat and poultry processed under state inspection can only be sold within that state. It cannot cross state lines unless the state participates in the Cooperative Interstate Shipping Program, which allows state-inspected plants to ship nationally while receiving additional federal oversight. For small and mid-sized producers, this distinction has real consequences for where they can sell their products.
Cell-Cultured Meat
The newest wrinkle in this regulatory landscape involves meat grown from animal cells rather than raised on farms. The FDA and USDA formalized a joint agreement in March 2019 that splits oversight based on the stage of production. The FDA regulates the early stages: collecting cells, maintaining cell banks, and overseeing cell growth and differentiation. Once the cells reach the harvesting stage, oversight transitions to USDA’s FSIS, which then handles production, processing, and labeling. As of March 2025, the FDA has completed pre-market consultations for products including cultured pork fat cells. The governing principle is that these products are regulated based on the animal species the cells originally came from, so cultured chicken falls under the same framework as conventional poultry.
How the System Fits Together
The regulatory map for animal products in the U.S. is ultimately a patchwork built from laws passed over more than a century. USDA’s FSIS handles the bulk of it: slaughter inspection, processing oversight, and labeling for the most commonly consumed meats, poultry, and processed egg products. The FDA fills in the gaps, covering shell eggs, low-meat products, and species that fall outside the major inspection acts. APHIS guards the border against animal disease, and state programs provide an alternative pathway for smaller operations selling locally. For consumers, the practical effect is that virtually every animal product sold in the U.S. passes through at least one layer of federal inspection before it reaches your plate.