When I explain this to people, some screw up their face, wince, or look at me in disbelief. "It'll never fly!", they say, or "Where did you get a crazy idea like that?", or "Who would buy that when they can get inspected chicken in every grocery store?", or "That would kill all of our export markets, as international markets would be worried they were being shipped some of that un-inspected meat".
Admittedly, it's not for everyone. If someone prefers what the commercial chicken factories have for sale, so be it. However, why does this group feel a need to force their choice onto everybody else.
You may like chocolate ice cream. You may like it so well that it's your favorite dessert. However, should you be listened to if you try to ban strawberry, vanilla, and the other thousands of flavours in favor of chocolate? How fair would that be? Why can't everybody be left to make up their own minds? Of course, if any of these ice creams are unsafe, or use deceptive advertising, no matter what flavour, then the consumer should be protected, and the fraudster prosecuted.
There is precedence for this "crazy idea" of self-inspected poultry.
Pennsylvania State University describes the 1,000 bird limit for Poultry Product Inspection Act (PPIA), where we find:
"...there are limited provisions for poultry growers who slaughter no more than 1,000 poultry in a calendar year for use as human food. A person may slaughter and process on his or her premises poultry that he or she raised and they may distribute such poultry without mandatory inspection when the following six criteria are met [PPIA Section 464(c)(4) “Section 15 (c)(4)”; Title 9 CFR §381.10(c)].There is a similar exemption for farmers who want to do up to 20,000 birds per year, provided it's only for sale within the farmer's own State.
Criteria:
1. The poultry grower slaughters no more than 1,000 healthy birds of his or her own raising in a calendar year for distribution as human food.
2. The poultry grower does not engage in buying or selling poultry products other than those produced from poultry raised on his or her own farm.
3. The slaughter and processing are conducted under sanitary standards, practices, and procedures that produce poultry prod-ucts that are sound, clean and fit for human food (not adulterated).
4. The producer keeps records necessary for the effective enforcement of the Act [Title 9 CFR 381.175].
5. The poultry products do not move in commerce. Note: Commerce means the exchange or transportation of poultry products between States, U.S. territories (Guam, Virgin Island of the United States, and American Samoa), and the District of Columbia [PPIA Section 453; Title 9CFR §381.1(b)].
6. The shipping containers bear:
a. the producer’s name,
b. the producer’s address, and
c. the statement, "Exempt P.L. 90-492".
So if the US can do it, why not Canada?
Funny thing is very unlikely that the small provincial plants would complain there down to so few they would like some relief from custom killing but the big boys would put up a stink and why is that?
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