Federal grant programs / Department of Agriculture

Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (10.381)

Also known as MPPEP

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$234 million
• Grant awards26
• Typical award$2.2 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$0
• Size rank569 of 1824
• Type of assistanceGrant

Key findings

• It is the 569th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 99% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 20 states and territories.

What the program funds

USDA is making grant funding available to meat and poultry processors for start-up and expansion. The objective is to provide more and better processing options to producers as soon as possible.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

• MPPEP Phase 3 Invasive Wild-Caught Catfish
  Open · Closes December 7, 2026 (37 days left) · up to $2.0 million

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Eligible applicants, which include an individual sole proprietor business and other business entities, must engage or propose to engage in meat and poultry processing which will expand capacity in the sector. Entities are eligible regardless of legal structure and may include, but are not limited to, federally recognized tribes, tribal entities, for-profit entities, corporations, non-profit entities, producer-owned cooperatives and corporations, certified benefit corporations, and State or local government entities. Private entities must be independently owned and operated. All entities must be domestically owned, and their meat and poultry processing facilities (existing or planned) must be physically located and operated within the U.S. or its territories. Eligible applicants must process or plan to process one or more species subject to the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) or the Poultry Product Inspection Act (PPIA) and possess or plan to obtain a Federal Grant of Inspection, a grant of inspection under a Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, or a tribal or state meat and poultry inspection program with standards at least equal to Federal inspection at the time of application. Plants processing non-amenable species under voluntary Food Safety and Inspection Service inspection are also eligible to apply for funding.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

What the money can and cannot pay for

An applicant selected for this grant must use funds for the purpose of expanding processing capacity in the applicant’s market to accommodate additional species, increased volumes, or otherwise expand capacity. Within such a project, eligible activities include, but are not limited to: • Construction of a new facility; • Modernizing or expanding an existing facility (including expansion and modifications to existing buildings and/or construction of new buildings at existing facilities, construction of holding pens, construction of wastewater management structures, etc.); • Modernizing processing and manufacturing equipment (including cutting equipment, mixers, grinders, sausage stuffers, smokers, curing equipment, pipes, motors, pumps, and valves); • Developing, customizing, and installing equipment, devices, and technology that automates processing functions to improve worker conditions and safety; Developing, customizing, and installing climate-smart equipment that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency in water use, improves air and/or water quality, and/or meets one or more of USDA’s climate action goals; • Ensuring compliance with packaging and labeling requirements under applicable law (including sealing, bagging, boxing, labeling, conveying, and product moving equipment); • Ensuring compliance with occupational and other safety requirements under applicable law; • Modernizing equipment or facilities to ensure food safety; • Paying for voluntary grading...

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines

Award range and average, in the agency's words

There is no minimum grant amount, the maximum amount is $25 million.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

By state

13 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.