Most packaged foods in the US are regulated by the FDA. Meat and poultry are not. They fall under the USDA, and the difference is not a technicality: it changes what your co-packer has to be, how the facility is inspected, and what you need to verify before you hand over your product. If you are making jerky, meat sticks, or any snack built on meat or poultry, you are in USDA territory, and your packaging partner has to be too.
This guide explains why meat snacks are USDA-regulated, what that oversight actually involves, and the specific things a brand should confirm about a co-packer before committing product to it. It is the deep dive behind the certification decision in our packaging playbook for the protein-snack boom.
Why Meat Snacks Are USDA, Not FDA
US food-safety jurisdiction is split. The FDA oversees roughly 80% of the food supply, packaged foods, beverages, produce, dairy, seafood, on a risk-based inspection schedule. The USDA, through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), oversees meat, poultry, and processed egg products. Because a meat snack is a meat product, it falls under USDA, and USDA oversight is far more hands-on than FDA’s.
The defining difference is inspection presence. FDA-regulated facilities are inspected periodically based on risk. USDA-regulated meat and poultry establishments operate with inspection built into production, with FSIS inspectors present in the establishment. That continuous-inspection model is the core of why USDA products carry the mark of inspection, and why the bar for a facility handling your meat snack is higher than for a general food product.
Jerky Is a Regulated, Shelf-Stable Product With Real Controls
Meat snacks are not lightly regulated. Under FSIS guidance, jerky is a shelf-stable, ready-to-eat product, and getting it to shelf-stable safely involves specific, science-based controls. The FSIS Compliance Guideline for Meat and Poultry Jerky lays out what a safe process has to achieve:
- A lethality step. The process has to destroy pathogens like Salmonella (and E. coli O157:H7 for beef). FSIS recommends a 5-log reduction of Salmonella for meat and poultry jerky to produce a safe product.
- Drying to shelf-stability. After the lethality step, the product is dried so that available water (water activity) is low enough to prevent pathogen growth, with water activity of around 0.85 or below identified as critical for controlling pathogens.
- A HACCP system. Establishments operate under Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans (9 CFR Part 417), documenting the hazards and the controls at each step.
The takeaway for a brand is not that you need to master log-reductions. It is that meat snacks sit inside a real federal food-safety framework, and the facility that makes and packs yours has to operate inside it. That is what USDA regulation means in practice.
Where Packaging Fits In
It helps to separate two things. There is the meat processing, the marination, the lethality step, the drying, that turns raw meat into safe, shelf-stable jerky. And there is the packaging and co-packing, the filling, sealing, modified-atmosphere control, labeling, and secondary packaging, that turns finished product into a sealed, retail-ready pack.
Both happen inside the USDA-regulated, inspected environment, and both have to meet the facility’s food-safety and certification requirements. When you outsource packaging to a co-packer, you are placing your product inside that co-packer’s regulated, certified operation. So the co-packer’s USDA standing and food-safety certification become, in effect, part of your product’s compliance. That is why vetting them properly matters.
SQF: The Certification That Sits on Top
USDA oversight is the federal baseline. On top of it, most retailers require a GFSI-recognized food-safety certification, and for co-packers that is usually SQF (Safe Quality Food). SQF is benchmarked by the Global Food Safety Initiative and built on HACCP, and it is what lets a retailer accept a co-packer’s food-safety system without running its own audit.
For a meat snack brand chasing retail placement, the combination matters: USDA for the federal meat regulation, and SQF for the retailer-facing food-safety certification. A co-packer strong on one but missing the other leaves a gap the brand inherits. We cover the full certification landscape, SQF, USDA, FDA, and ISO 9001:2015, in what an SQF-certified co-packer actually gives you.
For a meat or protein snack, confirm that a co-packer has:
- USDA establishment status appropriate to your product (meat and/or poultry), with FSIS inspection in place
- A current, in-scope SQF (or other GFSI-recognized) certification, verified by date and product scope, not just a logo
- A documented HACCP system and the ability to produce records, traceability, and lot tracking on request
- Experience with your specific product type and format, jerky, sticks, or bites, not just general food packaging
How Korpack Solves This
Korpack operates USDA, SQF, FDA, and ISO 9001:2015-certified co-packing, the combination a meat or protein snack brand needs in a packaging partner. That means a brand can place its product inside a regulated, certified, inspected operation without inheriting a compliance gap.
Korpack’s role is the packaging and co-packing side, filling, sealing, modified-atmosphere control, labeling, and retail-ready secondary packaging, performed to the food-safety and documentation standards the regulated environment requires. Real-time inventory and order visibility through the customer portal, plus lot and batch tracking, mean the records a brand needs for its own retail audits are available rather than reconstructed after the fact.
With a meat snack, you are not just choosing a packer. You are choosing whose regulated, certified operation your product runs through.
Korpack’s USDA, SQF, FDA, and ISO 9001:2015-certified co-packing gives meat and protein snack brands a regulated, audit-ready packaging partner with real-time visibility into their product. Let’s talk about what your product needs.
855.567.7225 | korpack.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Are meat snacks regulated by the FDA or the USDA?
The USDA, through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Meat and poultry products fall under USDA jurisdiction, not FDA. USDA-regulated establishments operate with FSIS inspection presence in the facility, a more hands-on model than the FDA’s risk-based periodic inspection of most other foods.
Does my co-packer need to be USDA certified to make my jerky?
A co-packer handling meat or poultry snacks needs to operate as a USDA-regulated establishment with FSIS inspection appropriate to the product. Confirm that status matches your product type (meat and/or poultry). For retail, you will typically also want a GFSI-recognized certification such as SQF on top of the USDA baseline.
What food-safety controls does jerky require?
Under FSIS guidance, jerky needs a lethality step that destroys pathogens (FSIS recommends a 5-log Salmonella reduction) followed by drying to a low water activity (around 0.85 or below) to keep it shelf-stable and safe, all within a documented HACCP system. These controls sit inside the USDA-regulated production environment.
Is USDA the same as SQF?
No. USDA (FSIS) is federal meat and poultry regulation with in-plant inspection. SQF is a private, GFSI-recognized food-safety certification most retailers require. They serve different purposes, and a meat snack brand chasing retail generally needs both: USDA for the federal meat regulation and SQF for the retailer-facing certification.
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), “Compliance Guideline for Meat and Poultry Jerky Produced by Small and Very Small Establishments.” Source for jerky as a shelf-stable ready-to-eat product, the recommended 5-log Salmonella reduction (lethality step), drying to a water activity of approximately 0.85 or below, and HACCP requirements under 9 CFR Part 417.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA FSIS jurisdiction references. Source for the split between FDA (roughly 80% of the food supply, risk-based inspection) and USDA (meat, poultry, and processed egg products, with in-establishment FSIS inspection).
- Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI) and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). Source for SQF as a GFSI-recognized, HACCP-based certification commonly required by retailers, layered on top of USDA regulation. Full detail in Korpack’s certifications guide.
- Korpack Marketing Guidelines and Value Propositions, November 2023. Source for Korpack’s USDA, SQF, FDA, and ISO 9001:2015-certified co-packing, customer portal and real-time visibility, lot/batch tracking, and packaging and co-packing capabilities.
Korpack is a technologically advanced packaging materials, contract packaging, and automation supplier that approaches solutions with an engineering mindset and creative flexibility. Founded by a packaging engineer, Korpack serves growth-oriented food and beverage brands across North America from its Chicagoland headquarters. This article is part of Korpack’s Co-Packing Insights series. It is provided for general information and is not regulatory or legal advice; confirm current requirements with USDA FSIS or a qualified consultant.
