Meat and Poultry Inspection Division provides continuous inspection of commercial slaughter and processing facilities, periodic inspection of custom plants, and has licensed about 180 meat and poultry distributors which are subject to random compliance reviews. Our inspectors give each animal offered for slaughter an abbreviated veterinary clinical examination while it is still alive to notice symptoms of disease that may not be reflected after slaughter. Postmortem inspection includes routine incisions, palpation, and observation of the animal carcass, its lymphatic system, and inspection of internal organs such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, spleen, and intestines. Only totally healthy carcasses may be branded with a West Virginia Department of Agriculture inspection legend and used for processing or offered for sale. Tests are run to detect any antibiotic or sulpha residues and samples are taken for bacteriological or pathological examinations.
Any contamination leads to the condemnation of the affected product.
Strict processing inspection based on scientific principles is carried out daily to assure that meat and poultry products leaving the plant are safe. The inspectors ensure that all rooms, compartments, and equipment in the plant are clean, sanitary, and properly maintained before they allow daily operations to begin. If a deficiency is found, the plant must remedy the problem and request the inspector to reinspect before operations can continue. Incoming raw materials, non-meat ingredients and processing technologies, such as cooking, smoking, or curing are under our inspectors' control. All ingredients used for meat or poultry product preparation are inspected for their quality, freshness, and compliance with national standards.