Fun Fact: In America, the terms buffalo and bison are interchangeable. There are different more distinct varieties in Asia and Africa, but in North America the names refer to the same animal. And, while historians debate details, no one denies the vital role they played in life on the American grasslands.
Another Fun Fact: Ted Turner is the largest individual landowner in North America. Of his fifteen ranches spread over seven states, fourteen of them are used to raise bison. These bison herds supply his restaurants with fresh free-range bison meats.
Bison played a huge role in the early food chain of our country and today they’re just as valuable. But don’t be daunted by Ted Turner’s large-scale operation; you don’t have to have two million acres of land to be a successful bison farmer. We attend a brilliant farmer’s market in Virginia Beach (I may have mentioned it before!) and once a month Don Edmonds and his wife Kim bring their bison meat to Old Beach Farmer’s Market.
Bison or Beef, livestock farmers run into the same problem of what to do with non-primal cuts of meat. This is where we step in. Our Master Butcher takes meat destined for hamburger, which is hardly profitable for farmers, and turns it into sausages, pastrami, ham, etc., that the farmers can actually sell. Frank Meusel, our Master Butcher in Residence, was particularly excited to make bison sausages, the meat being exceptionally lean and flavorful, so we picked up several hundred pounds of meat and got ready to work. Or so we thought…
Did you know that according to the United States Department of Agriculture bison, an indigenous species, is “exotic” meat? Clearly the regulators failed their history classes because in reality bison were in America long before cows! We are already well aware that common sense does not apply to federal regulations, however we had no idea they were reaching a new low with this instance. In order to work on this meat we had to submit a form to the state office in Raleigh. Once “officials” approved this form, an inspector would be sent down to evaluate our facility and recipes. If he found our procedures (which are already USDA approved and inspected) acceptable then we would be able to process the “exotic” bison meat under the supervision of our regular inspector. The final insult was that we would have to pay for this supervision: $43.64 an hour!
What else could we do? The form was filled out and submitted to Raleigh and for nearly three weeks Frank and Mr. Edmonds wondered if we would be making Bison Brats or not. Not one for sitting still, Uli started making phone calls. He got in touch with the State Director of NCDA’s Meat and Poultry Inspection Division. Mr. Director was surprised we were jumping through all these hoops. He told us the inspector had a column on her time sheet where she could record hours spent on “exotic” meats and we would be sent a bill when she turned it in. And just like that we made bison brats! To this day we do not know where our inspector, who was just as confused as we were, got her list of requirements or why the State Director said we didn’t have to follow them.
The truly sad thing is that our goal of helping small farmers has taken quite a blow with this latest regulatory roadblock. How are we supposed to keep costs low for exotic meats when we have to pay an inspector a higher hourly rate than the Master Butcher. It is a sad state of affairs when our government considers inspector training more valuable than true artisan craftsmanship. That even makes labeling a native American species “exotic” seem rational.
Another Fun Fact: Ted Turner is the largest individual landowner in North America. Of his fifteen ranches spread over seven states, fourteen of them are used to raise bison. These bison herds supply his restaurants with fresh free-range bison meats.
Bison played a huge role in the early food chain of our country and today they’re just as valuable. But don’t be daunted by Ted Turner’s large-scale operation; you don’t have to have two million acres of land to be a successful bison farmer. We attend a brilliant farmer’s market in Virginia Beach (I may have mentioned it before!) and once a month Don Edmonds and his wife Kim bring their bison meat to Old Beach Farmer’s Market.
Bison or Beef, livestock farmers run into the same problem of what to do with non-primal cuts of meat. This is where we step in. Our Master Butcher takes meat destined for hamburger, which is hardly profitable for farmers, and turns it into sausages, pastrami, ham, etc., that the farmers can actually sell. Frank Meusel, our Master Butcher in Residence, was particularly excited to make bison sausages, the meat being exceptionally lean and flavorful, so we picked up several hundred pounds of meat and got ready to work. Or so we thought…
Did you know that according to the United States Department of Agriculture bison, an indigenous species, is “exotic” meat? Clearly the regulators failed their history classes because in reality bison were in America long before cows! We are already well aware that common sense does not apply to federal regulations, however we had no idea they were reaching a new low with this instance. In order to work on this meat we had to submit a form to the state office in Raleigh. Once “officials” approved this form, an inspector would be sent down to evaluate our facility and recipes. If he found our procedures (which are already USDA approved and inspected) acceptable then we would be able to process the “exotic” bison meat under the supervision of our regular inspector. The final insult was that we would have to pay for this supervision: $43.64 an hour!
What else could we do? The form was filled out and submitted to Raleigh and for nearly three weeks Frank and Mr. Edmonds wondered if we would be making Bison Brats or not. Not one for sitting still, Uli started making phone calls. He got in touch with the State Director of NCDA’s Meat and Poultry Inspection Division. Mr. Director was surprised we were jumping through all these hoops. He told us the inspector had a column on her time sheet where she could record hours spent on “exotic” meats and we would be sent a bill when she turned it in. And just like that we made bison brats! To this day we do not know where our inspector, who was just as confused as we were, got her list of requirements or why the State Director said we didn’t have to follow them.
The truly sad thing is that our goal of helping small farmers has taken quite a blow with this latest regulatory roadblock. How are we supposed to keep costs low for exotic meats when we have to pay an inspector a higher hourly rate than the Master Butcher. It is a sad state of affairs when our government considers inspector training more valuable than true artisan craftsmanship. That even makes labeling a native American species “exotic” seem rational.
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