A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. Date: January 7, 2015 Duration: one hour Local meat and poultry markets rely on small processors with a range of skills and services. NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina State University, spent two years working with a set of small processors […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. Date: February 18, 2015 Duration: one hour Overview: The first USDA-inspected mobile slaughter unit (MSU) for red meat species began operating in 2002. Since then, MSUs have not only evolved in size and design but have also gone international: Europe, South America, Papua New Guinea, and soon
Mobile Slaughter Units (MSUs): An International Perspective Read More »
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Date: April 23, 2015 (note: new date) Time: 10 am PST / 1pm EST for one hour To attend: Go to https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/nichemeat 5-10 minutes before start time and log in as a guest. All NMPAN webinars are free and open to the public. Overview: Many small-scale
Open-Sourced HACCP: Making Cured Meats Production More Accessible Read More »
Increase Your Retail Sales with More Frequent Delivery Nick McCann, Iowa State University Extension Nick McCann is an Agricultural Business Specialist with Iowa State University Cooperative Extension. He works with small meat plants in Iowa, helping them improve their bottom lines by identifying useful and practical changes they can make in their processes and
Increase Your Retail Sales with More Frequent Delivery Read More »
Meat processors, like most businesses, work hard to cut costs, hoping to improve their bottom line. But while cost cutting can sometimes improve profits, too often it doesn’t get us very far. So what can? Research with small plants in Iowa indicates that increasing throughput — sales less raw materials — is almost three times
Strategies to Increase Throughput Read More »
<< Back From bacon to jerky, prosciutto and salami, further processed meat products have a strong following. Consumers like the taste, and farmers, butchers, and restaurants like turning lower end cuts into high value specialty meats. All of these products come with additional regulations and scrutiny if you wish to make them in your processing plant, butcher
Further Processed Meat Products Read More »
If you are interested in preparing jerky in your processing facility, you will need to demonstrate lethality in your jerky-making process. Typically this means cooking under controlled humidity per Appendix A, and then drying. This AskFSIS question addresses this: http://askfsis.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/902/ A few words of advice on jerky making from our listserv: “A real smokehouse
This page was developed with input from experienced producers, processors, and regulators. Consumer interest in raw, local and/or organic diets for their pets has increased greatly in recent years. With Americans spending over $60 billion on their pets annually, many meat processors are looking for ways to access the growing pet food market. While customers
Processing Pet Food for Sale Read More »
Here are a set of blueprints for a mobile poultry processing unit (MPPU) built to operate under “equal to” state inspection in Vermont. The MPPU was built by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, with funding from the Vermont Legislature and the Castanea Foundation, in 2008. It was leased by a small poultry processor for several years, then sold to a farm
Mobile Poultry Processing Unit Blueprints Read More »
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar, presented in collaboration with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Date: February 4, 2014 Duration: 1 hour The Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill and launched by USDA-FSIS in 2012, allows state-inspected meats from qualifying plants to be shipped across state lines. The goal of the program
Cooperative Interstate Shipment: How’s It Working Out? Read More »