Denver voters reject ban on slaughterhouses, allowing Superior Farms to proceed selling lamb in Colorado and across the country

Ballot Measure 309which sought to ban slaughterhouses in town and county of Denver, failed on November 5, 2024. The measure can be accomplished Superior farms within the Globeville neighborhood north of Denver.

I’m an associate professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. My research explores solutions to meat and food system challenges similar to food safety, market stability and sustainability. I'm a part of a research team that investigated this possible effects Ballot Measure 309 on the local, state, national and global meat supply chain.

Denver's only slaughterhouse

Superior Farms' lamb processing facility employs roughly 160 people and accounts for 15% to twenty% of production Total lamb slaughter capability within the U.S. Our study reports that the sheep harvested on the Denver facility come primarily from Colorado and the Mountain West region.

Colorado has rugged rangelands which can be well suited to raising sheep. It is currently the third largest sheep producing state within the nation, to Texas and California.

Colorado is home to a different big one Lamb processing plant within the northeastern plains and 21 much smaller facilities across the state.

The ability of those processing plants to market meat to consumers is much lower than that of Superior Farms attributable to capability or inspection limitations. Our report found that closing the Denver facility would require many of the sheep harvested there to be harvested in other states as an alternative.

More likely, sheep farmers who’ve historically sent their lambs to Denver for harvest can be unable or unwilling to ship them to other states because of this increased costs And Concerns about impacts on animal welfare.

Our study suggested a possible impact of two% concerning the statewide animal production industry if Ballot Measure 309 were successful in closing Superior Farms.

The Effectsobserved following closures of meat processing plants in other regions, would have resulted in lower sheep production and a decline within the economic value of live sheep. In addition, the closure would have resulted in a lack of employment opportunities within the livestock industry and a transition away from sheep production towards other operations.

It's not only Superior Farms' size that makes it necessary to the provision chain, but its ability to succeed in consumers in a wide range of markets is critical to the sheep industry.

Federal inspection for market access essential

Only 33 of Colorado's 120 meat processing plants are inspected by the agency U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. The remaining facilities are considered exempt from federal inspection and are as an alternative subject to regulation State of Colorado.

These two designations control the flexibility of sheep farmers and meat processors to get their products to consumers.

The Federal law on meat inspection was passed in 1906 to make sure the protection and quality of meat products for human consumption. It also sets standards for animal welfare on the time of harvest. The laws has led to widespread improvements within the meat industry, including Establishment of the Food Safety and Inspection Service Mid Eighties.

Today, the Food Safety and Inspection Service is the federal agency answerable for implementing inspection and labeling standards in meat processing. This is essentially achieved through ongoing on-site inspections by trained inspectors and a sturdy permitting and record-keeping structure.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service grants exemptions from federal inspection to smaller meat processors, however the exempt meat products aren’t approved for resale – meaning these products can’t be purchased on the local food market, farmers market or downtown restaurant. Instead, they’re intended for consumption by the animal's owner.

While this exemption is permissible for a producer with five or ten sheep, it’s untenable for a producer with lots of or 1000’s of sheep. For this producer, access to government-controlled meat processing facilities similar to Superior Farms and the market access provided by these facilities is the linchpin of profitability, sustainability and provide chain integrity.

Farm-to-plate just isn’t that easy

The ballot measure highlighted the complexity of the meat supply chain and the challenges sheep farmers face in getting lamb to consumers.

The variety of sheep farmers within the United States has steadily declined over the past 4 a long time attributable to Consumer trends, increasing production costs and difficult environmental conditions similar to drought. As sheep and lamb supplies decline, U.S. restaurants and retailers have needed to look elsewhere to satisfy their customers' low but relatively stable demand for lamb products.

On the opposite side of the world, Australia and New Zealand have found markets for his or her lamb amongst U.S. consumers. Their competitiveness in lamb production has made them a desirable trading partner for the United States – and far of the lamb consumed within the United States is imported from these two countries. Our study suggests an additional decline in lamb meat production within the United States will increase U.S. dependence on imported lamb from Australia and New Zealand.

Meat production is a worldwide enterprise

The meat industry is global – and the success of the U.S. meat industry is closely tied to its relationships with other meat-eating countries.

Lamb meat is offal and other less commonly consumed lamb products produced on the Denver Superior Farms facility are sometimes exported to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.

Maintaining these trade relationships is a fragile balance with significant financial implications.

This export market increases the typical value of U.S. sheep and is critical to the profitability of sheep producers.

The balance between the worth of the export market and imports from other countries strengthens the profitability of livestock and meat producers world wide.

Although Americans often view the food system and meat supply chain within the context of their local markets, it’s a worldwide industry with extremely complex and interconnected relationships. Changes in a single a part of the provision chain can have a noticeable and, in some cases, irreversible impact on other components of the provision chain.