A butcher who ran a private abattoir service for farmers was found with fresh meat stored alongside skins and carcases in his unhygienic cutting room.
Matthew Broom toured farms in Mid and North Devon working as a slaughterman and also killed animals for farmers at his base near Tiverton where health inspectors seized almost a quarter of a ton of meat.
He sold to farm shops or took a fee for killing and cutting up beef, pigs and lambs for farmers to take home and put in their own freezers.
Inspectors from Mid Devon Council found fresh and old meat being kept together and condemned his entire stock of 248 kilograms, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Broom, of Cowley Moor Road, Tiverton, who ran his business at Little Esworthy Farm, Templeton, admitted 16 offences under the Food Hygiene Regulations dating back to 2008.
Recorder Mr Michael Fitton, QC, adjourned sentence and ordered a special fact finding hearing after Broom entered a basis if plea which disputed how much money he had made from his business.
The Judge also set a timetable for hearings under the Proceeds of Crime Act which could result in Broom being stripped of all or part of his assets.
Miss Julia Cox, prosecuting, said:"On November 5, 2013 Environmental Health Officers visited Little Esworthy Farm and saw a butchery and cutting room with many items of skin around in what was considered to be particularly unsafe circumstances.
"The meat was seized. A total of 248 of fresh or frozen with many items in what was considered to be an unfit state and the risk of contamination extremely high.
"Broom indicated he took in animals from farmers who took cattle, sheep or pigs for slaughter and cutting and he would also go to their establishments to carry out the same activities."
She said notebooks were seized which suggested he was making up to £100,000 a year but the figures are disputed in his basis of plea.
The council now accept he did have a licence and that much of the meat went straight back to those who had supplied the animals and was for their own consumption.
Mr Dafydd Paxton, defending, said the differences over how much Broom made from his business would have to be settled as a future hearing.
Recorder Mr Fitton said:"The court must reach a conclusive opinion in clear terms and this is an issue which may have a bearing on sentence."
