WASHINGTON – The number of federally inspected and non-federally inspected slaughter establishments has declined 40 percent since 1990, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the US Dept. of Agriculture reported in its Livestock Overview.

The steepest declines were reported in the number of non-federally inspected facilities, according to the report. Since 1990, non-federally inspected slaughter facilities declined 42 percent since 1990 to 1,910 facilities counted this year from 3,281 reported in 1990. The number of federally inspected establishments dropped 36 percent to 808 in 2016 from 1,268 reported in 1990.

As of Jan. 1, Pennsylvania reported the largest number of federally inspected slaughter plants with 83, while Montana had the largest number of non-federally inspected slaughter plants with 164, NASS said in its report.

Texas had the most slaughter plants with 189, while Alaska and Nevada had the smallest number of total establishments with three each. NASS noted that Wyoming has no federally inspected establishments while Alaska, Florida, Hawaii and Nevada do not have any non-federally inspected slaughter establishments.