Eddie Behends on Reviving New Mexico State Meat Inspection & Building Meat Culture
bymeatpeople
Neil interviews Eddie Behrends, who grew up in Fredericksburg, Texas and now lives on his wife’s fifth-generation ranch in New Mexico while raising three children involved in FFA and showing cattle. Behrends, executive manager of New Mexico’s State Meat and Poultry Inspection, explains the state’s effort to bring back state inspection to support ranchers, build a meat culture, and expand processing avenues; he says state programs must be at least equal to USDA standards, follow nine required components, and the key limitation is not selling across state lines. He recounts a career shaped by meats judging and education, running meat labs at Texas Tech and Colorado State, working at BPI/Empirical Foods, deer processing and sausage production at Hudson Sausage, San Angelo Packing, retail leadership at H-E-B, and returning to Angelo State, emphasizing mentorship, connections through SMA, and giving back.
