Establishment Demographic Data – MPI Directory – Data 

Documentation

Overview

These data provide additional demographic information about establishments regulated by the Food 

Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Additional 

slaughter and processing data are also available in the FSIS Meat, Poultry, and Egg Inspection (MPI) 

Supplement. The Meat, Poultry and Egg Product Inspection Directory is a listing of establishments that 

produce meat, poultry, and/or egg products regulated by FSIS and locations where FSIS provides other 

inspection services. The MPI is currently available in both file and App formats, and links to the Apps can 

be found on the FSIS website (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/mpidirectory).

Each row in this dataset represents one FSIS regulated establishment. The MPI information reflects 

establishments in an Active status at the time the data are pulled.

FSIS will continue to provide the MPI Directory file in a PDF format but will now post the machine 

readable MPI Directory and MPI Supplement files in an open, non-proprietary csv consistent with 

requirements set by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. Additional 

information can be found on the FSIS Laboratory Sampling Data web page.

All variable names will be in snake_case, which is a naming convention in which all letters are written in 

lowercase and all spaces are replaced with underscores. This format helps with the readability of 

variable names and is one of the most popular naming conventions in computing and various 

programming languages.

Data Dictionary of MPI Directory

• establishment_id

o Definition: A unique identifier that is used to identify an establishment across 

data tables in the FSIS databases

o This data can be combined with other FSIS datasets using the establishment_id

variable. Please note that other FSIS datasets may represent this variable as 

EstablishmentID with capital letters and no underscores.

• establishment_number

o Definition: A letter/number combination uniquely identifying each establishment.

o Note: Can be used to merge data from different datasets. Please note that other FSIS 

datasets may represent this variable as EstablishmentNumber with capital letters and no 

underscores.

o Each establishment is assigned a number for each FSIS grant of inspection that is 

currently active or that may have been active in the past. Each number is preceded by 

a variable prefix to indicate the type of grant.

▪ M = Meat

▪ P = Poultry

▪ I = Imports
▪ G = Eggs

▪ V = Voluntary

o Some establishment numbers also have a suffix letter. These letters indicate

different establishments.

o Establishments with multiple numbers have multiple grants of inspection. When 

this happens, the different numbers are joined with a ‘+’.

o Examples

▪ M1234 – The prefix ‘M’ indicates that the establishment has a meat grant or 

had a meat grant in the past. The ‘1234’ is the numerical portion that goes 

with the meat grant.

▪ P1234 – The prefix ‘P’ indicates that the establishment has a poultry grant or 

had a poultry grant in the past. The ‘1234’ is the numerical portion that goes 

with the poultry grant.

▪ Note: If an establishment has more than one grant, the numerical portions

may be the same, but that is not required

• If establishment M234 has/had a poultry grant as well, the poultry

number might be P234, but it could be a different number

• If M234 has/had a poultry number that is different than P234, 

(e.g. M234+P567), then P234 is available and could be the

number of a different establishment

▪ M1234A and M1234B would be different establishments because they

have different suffixes

o Establishment numbers are found on package labels

• establishment_name

o Definition: The name of an establishment on the FSIS grant ofinspection

• street

o Definition: The street of the physical address of the establishment

• city

o Definition: The city of the physical address of the establishment

• state

o Definition: The state of the physical address of the establishment

• zip

o Definition: The zip code or postal code of the physical address of the establishment

• phone

o Definition: The main phone number of the establishment

• duns_number

o Definition: The Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number is a unique nine-digit 

identification number provided by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). This number is not required 

and must be applied for, so not every establishment may have one. More information 

about the DUNS number can be found here: All About the D-U-N-S Number - Dun & 

Bradstreet (dnb.com)

• district
o Definition: The FSIS district where an establishment is located

o See https://www.fsis.usda.gov/contactus/fsis-offices/office-field-operations-ofo for 

more information about FSIS districts

• circuit

o Definition: The FSIS circuit where an establishment is located

o The first two numbers of the circuit number are the district number

o Circuit numbers with a four-digit integer indicate an establishment that is under FSIS 

jurisdiction

o Circuit numbers with two integers followed by two letters indicate that an 

establishment is under Talmage-Aiken (TA) jurisdiction. TA establishments are federal 

establishments that are inspected by state inspectors in states with a TA program.

• size

o Definition: The size of the establishment based on the business class

▪ The options are Large, Small, and Very Small

• Large establishments are defined as establishments with 500 or more 

employees

• Small establishments are defined as establishments with 10 or more 

employees but fewer than 500 employees

• Very Small establishments are defined as establishments with fewer 

than 10 employees or annual sales of less than $2.5 million

o Note: This variable does not correlate highly with production volume

• county

o Definition: The county of the establishment

• fips_code

o Definition: The county-level Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) Code of the 

establishment. FIPS codes are numbers which uniquely identify geographical areas. 

County-level FIPS codes have five digits: the first two are the FIPS code of the state to 

which the county belongs, and the last three are the FIPS code of the county itself. 

Please refer to the United States Census Bureau for more information: ANSI and FIPS 

Codes (census.gov)

• latitude

o Definition: The latitude value of the establishment

• longitude

o Definition: The longitude value of the establishment

• grant_date

o Definition: The grant date of the most recent Grant of Inspection (GOI) of the 

establishment

• activities

o Definition: The type of inspection activities the establishment is approved for under

its grant of inspection

o Please note that this field is reflective of an establishment’s current state. In the 

supplementary MPI information, the slaughter and processing fields both include a 

360-day lookback. It is possible that an establishment, for example, does not have 
the activity of “Meat Slaughter” in its list of current activities, but the supplementary 

MPI information may show a record of meat slaughter within the past 360 days.

o For this directory, the types of identified operations are:

▪ Slaughter

• 9 CFR A - AGENCY ORGANIZATION AND TERMINOLOGY; 

MANDATORY MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION AND 

VOLUNTARY INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION - Content Details -

CFR-2023-title9-vol2-chapIII-subchapA (govinfo.gov)

▪ Processing

• Please use the regulation above for more information about 

Processing operations

▪ Egg Product

• 9 CFR I - EGG PRODUCTS INSPECTION - Content Details - CFR-2023-

title9-vol2-chapIII-subchapI (govinfo.gov)

▪ Imported Product

• Official establishments that import meat, poultry, and egg products 

from eligible countries outside the United States

• 9 CFR 327 - IMPORTED PRODUCTS - Content Details - CFR-2023-

title9-vol2-part327 (govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR T - Imported Poultry Products - Content Details - CFR-2023-

title9-vol2-part381-subpartT (govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR 557 - IMPORTATION - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-

part557 (govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR 590 - INSPECTION OF EGGS AND EGG PRODUCTS (EGG 

PRODUCTS INSPECTION ACT) - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-

vol2-part590 (govinfo.gov)

• FSIS Guideline for Importing Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products into 

the United States | Food Safety and Inspection Service (usda.gov)

▪ Identification

• Facilities inspected by FSIS in order to facilitate the division of such 

products into smaller portions or combine into larger units and 

maintain its identity as product which has been federally inspected 

and passed.

• 9 CFR 350 - SPECIAL SERVICES RELATING TO MEAT AND OTHER 

PRODUCTS - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-part350 

(govinfo.gov)

▪ Certification – Cysticercus 

• Certification for testing for cysticercosis

• 9 CFR § 311.23 - Tapeworm cysts (cysticercus bovis) in cattle. -

Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-sec311-23 (govinfo.gov)
▪ Certification – Export

• Establishments and facilities where FSIS provides inspection 

services able to perform export certification of meat, poultry, and 

egg products

• Voluntary and Other Reimbursable Inspection Services - Revision 2 

| Food Safety and Inspection Service (usda.gov)

• 9 CFR M - Official Marks, Devices, and Certificates; Export 

Certificates; Certification Procedures - Content Details - CFR-2023-

title9-vol2-part381-subpartM (govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR 552 - EXPORTS - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-

part552 (govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR § 590.407 - Export certification and marking of containers 

with export inspection mark. - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-

vol2-sec590-407 (govinfo.gov)

• Export Guidance | Food Safety and Inspection Service (usda.gov)

▪ Food Inspection

• An inspection service for the processing of certain food articles that 

contain meat or poultry but do not require mandatory Federal 

inspection under the Acts

• 9 CFR 350 - SPECIAL SERVICES RELATING TO MEAT AND OTHER 

PRODUCTS - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-part350 

(govinfo.gov)

▪ Off-Premise Freezing

• Establishments must receive prior approval to use off-premise

freezing facilities. These establishments must also comply with all 

other regulations regarding the freezing of meat, poultry, and egg 

products.

• 9 CFR § 381.66 - Temperatures and chilling and freezing 

procedures. - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-sec381-66 

(govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR § 381.148 - Processing and handling requirements for frozen 

poultry products. - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-sec381-

148 (govinfo.gov)

• 9 CFR § 590.534 - Freezing facilities. - Content Details - CFR-2023-

title9-vol2-sec590-534 (govinfo.gov)

▪ Technical Animal Fats

• Rendered animal fat eligible for exportation, or storage for 

exportation

• 9 CFR 351 - CERTIFICATION OF TECHNICAL ANIMAL FATS FOR 

EXPORT - Content Details - CFR-2023-title9-vol2-part351 

(govinfo.gov)
▪ AMS RTE Canada EV Program

• Because of Canada’s requirements for the product, this program 

covers establishments that produce Ready-To-Eat (RTE) closed-face 

sandwiches containing meat or poultry filling

• Canada | Food Safety and Inspection Service (usda.gov)

• Federal Register :: Export Verification Program: Microbiological 

Testing of Ready-To-Eat Products Destined for Canada

• dbas

o Definition: The acronym “Doing Business As” which refers to the establishment’s 

legal name that is used to carry out business activities

Searching the Directory

To search the PDF document, select one of the following options:

1. Use a keyboard shortcut: Control-F (Ctrl-F) on Windows, or Command-F (⌘-F) on MacOS

2. Select the “Search” option in the “Edit” menu

3. Select the icon of the binoculars in the toolbar