A New York Times article describes some of the challenges of local-food movements across the country: a lack of slaughterhouses.
...growing problem for small farmers here and across the nation: too few slaughterhouses to meet the growing demand for locally raised meat." Los Angeles has only a handful of live animal processing plants, when decades ago there were dozens. In what could be a major setback for America’s local-food movement, championed by so-called locavores, independent farmers around the country say they are forced to make slaughter appointments before animals are born and to drive hundreds of miles to facilities, adding to their costs and causing stress to livestock. As a result, they are scaling back on plans to expand their farms because local processors cannot handle any more animals.
The LA Times recently posted this article “One of L.A. County’s last slaughterhouses could go on the chopping block.” Neighbors and city zoning codes pose serious challenges to any type of animal processing plant here in Southern California.
I represent one of the last slaughterhouses in the City of Los Angeles. The company is thriving with hearty demand for their product.
Real Mex Foods supplies more than 200 restaurants as the distribution branch of Real Mex Restaurants, Cypress, Calif., including Chevy’s, El Torito and Acapulco restaurant concepts located in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. In addition, Real Mex Foods has branched into broader frozen foods processing for foodservice, co-pack and retail channels serving clients such as Sysco Distributors, El Pollo Loco, Carl’s Jr.-Green Burrito, Albertson’s and U.S. Foods.