On Monday, August 23, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published an updated set of maps showing the availability of slaughter and processing facilities around the nation.  See the full report here.

FSIS published the original maps in May (click here to see the full report), but users responded that the maps were difficult to use.   The updated maps, according to FSIS, are “more illustrative” and also “show updated slaughter facility data, including locations of additional State-inspected establishments.”

NSAC encourages the USDA to continue updating and improving the maps, as they will highlight regions lacking these resources, and hopefully over time help lead to increased investment in infrastructure for local and regional food systems and better market access for farmers and ranchers.   As FSIS notes,  “USDA will use these maps to identify areas where assistance or outreach would help build or maintain slaughter capacity within local or regional food systems.”

For short articles about USDA news and resources on local and regional food system development be sure to check in on the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website’s blog posts.  This site has become quite active in the last month or two and promises to become an important hub of information and comment  on local and regional food news.