Vol 2 ~ iss 3, Meat Packing Journal, May~Jun 2015 by Reby Media

The international magazine for the meat and poultry industry

P.34

air chilling keeps bacteria away

P.60

overhauling worker safety

P.70

sid miller explains all

MEAT PACKING J O U R N A L

pork report

forget last year's problems, MPJ is predicting a boom in 2015

BBQ break make the most of the hottest food trend

November~december 2014 volume 2 | issue 3 ISSN 2054-4685

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C o Mmen t

empowering employees

few years back I visited National Shrimp Farm in Al Lith, Saudi Arabia. It was towards the end of July. It was hot as hell. The farm itself was of a size only a Texas cattle rancher could appreciate; with a bit of math I figured it was 36 times the size of Monaco. Outside of a very small Saudi village, there was nothing in the area except for sand – which seemed to blow constantly when I was there – and camels. Most of the 2,000-plus employees, from 21 different countries, were on a two-year contract. Unless they had an emergency back home, the farm was their home for 24 months, with only the very top management allowed to have their families at the site. This meant 95 percent did not. On days-off employees could explore the surrounding area, but in the quest for wine, women, and song, they were most definitely in the wrong place. Even the beach was pretty much off limits. While in Saudi Arabia you can go to the beach, going into the water is an entirely different issue. Except in ‘legal’ beaches, swimmers are considered a security risk so along almost all of Saudi’s Red Sea coast, no one is allowed in. While due to the farm’s isolation it was doubtful that the Saudi Coast Guard ever patrolled its beaches, the Red Sea is famous for sharks and shark attacks. Outside of a few Australians and Yanks who were too hot to care, I never saw anyone taking a dip. Morale shouldn’t been just low at National, it should have been nonexistent. Zippo, Zero. Nada. But.... In exploring the massive shrimp farm I pulled up to these large concrete uch of this issue was inspired blocks, sitting next to the channel bringing water to the farm from the Red by a trip through Texas and Sea. Not exaggerating, but the channel was big enough for a US carrier to pull meeting its great folks. While Texas in. From inside the blocks I could hear the hum of machinery. Ag Commissioner Sid Miller brings up Two bearded men, dressed in traditional Pakistani robes, approached me the rear, read him first and let him tell suspiciously and asked me what I was doing there. I pointed to the camera you what makes Texas – Texas. around my neck and said I was doing a story on the farm. Back Page 70-71 Both men broke into smiles. The younger man, who had a better command of English, started explaining the humming sound. “Inside these blocks are pumps which are bringing in water from the Red Sea. Do you know what would happen if they broke?” I shook my head no. “Without water with oxygen in it, every shrimp on this farm would die. My companion and I, we have the most important jobs on this farm, without us, it would fail.” Where ever I went on the farm, this was the attitude I ran into. From those feeding shrimp, harvesting the shrimp at midnight when it was cooler, to those working the processing/packing line, all felt the same. Their job was the most important one at the farm; without them doing it to their best ability, all was doomed. In such an inhospitable place to work, I have never seen so many employees who defined the word ‘empowered’ to this extreme. How did management create this? Basically, they created an atmosphere where any employee could raise his hand and yell ‘stop’ if they saw anything wrong, and most importantly, management would listen and act quickly. In the Safety feature there is an article on how Rudolph Foods turned around what was a lackadaisical attitude towards ensuring employee safety to one that can now boast 300,000 hours injury free. To sum it up in a nutshell, once management started caring, employees did as well; now they’re just as likely to call anyone on a safety issue as management. In February I toured Jensen Meats in San Diego, they’re the USA’s largest beef grinder/patty producer company west of the Mississippi River. In talking with Able Olivera, COO, he said that it would only take one bad patty to bring the company down. “So how do you prevent this?” I asked. “We have 10 inspectors here, that’s 20 eyes watching things. But I figured we have 300 people working here; that could be 600 eyes keeping watch. My job and my managers is to train the employees, work with them, and listen to them, making sure that they feel this company is theirs as well. We empower them to make the right decisions.” And that’s what it is all about. Velo Mitrovich velo@meatpacking.info @Meat_Packing

Editor's choice

www.meatpacking.info

May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 3

MEAT TALK THE PODCAST FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MEAT AND POULTRY INDUSTRY www.meatpacking.info

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(L) Alex Halterman, Plant Engineer (R) Lenny Lombardi, Vice President

“At AVA, we are a major supplier of case ready meats to supermarkets and other retailers throughout the Northeast. We help our customers with just-in-time case ready beef and pork programs. The advantage we provide is that all of our products look as if they were produced at store-level. “We achieve that ‘wrapped in-store’ “Fabbri Stretch look using Fabbri Stretch Wrappers Wrappers make a from Reiser. Our high-speed Fabbri superior package machines consistently produce superior that retailers love packages that ‘scream’ fresh. And when because it appears we combine Reiser’s Vemag MMP to be wrapped ground beef portioner and tray handling in-store.” equipment with the Fabbri system, we have a fast and efficient case-ready solution. “The bottom line is that Reiser is one of our most valuable and trusted partners with nearly 80% of the machines in our plant from them. Reiser equipment is perfectly suited to our mission of producing products that appear to be wrapped in-store. Plus, Reiser service and support is second to none – we feel they are just as committed to our success as we are!” Lenny Lombardi, Vice President

C o n t en t s

Barbecue Once found only in the US South and Texas, barbecue - and long lines of customers - can be found everywhere

salt lick Tucked away in the middle of nowhere, Salt Lick BBQ cooks up 1 million lbs of brisket a year. They must be doing something right.

air chilling Using cold air instead of chilled water baths for chicken might be on target for reducing bacteria

crust freezing Supermarket deli counters are disappearing but customer demand isn't for thin sliced meats. How to get the thin with crust freezing

It's the taste people want, but dietitians fear. Quality frying can please both.

34 on the cover Scott Roberts, owner of Salt Lick BBQ in Texas, holding a rack of barbecued ribs. They taste as good as they look. Photo by Bryan Kuntz

In the next issue While pork might have billed itself as the 'other white meat', MPJ will be looking at the 'other red meat' - lamb. Also, editor Velo Mitrovich travels to San Diego to visit Jensen Meats, the largest beef mincer west of the Mississippi. Other features include robotics and curing.

www.meatpacking.info

frying

pork This year expect a boom as pork comes back in strength around the world. Also, a visit to an amazing farm and processor

safety 60

A factory with 450 workers has gone 300,000 hours accident free. Plant manager Gary Burns attributes just one thing for turning safety around

Also in this issue 9 - News 14 - Marketing news 16 - Weather 68 - Product releases 70 - Back page interview with Sid Miller 72 - Directory 73 - Shows & events

May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 7

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ne w s

Gloves off as South Africa ‘demonizes’ US poultry

www.meatpacking.info

flowcomm

he US Department of Foreign Agriculture Service and the South African Poultry Association will unlikely be holding hands and singing ‘Kumbaya’ around the campfire this spring as a war of rhetoric has erupted between the two groups. But, while the big boys slug it out with words, the average South African is suffering as poultry prices have shot up by 13 percent. According to the USDAFAS, in an extensive round of media and press interviews, South African Poultry Association (SAPA) Executive Director Kevin Lovell has resorted to trade protectionist rhetoric to try to convince the people of South Africa that continued imposition of punitive antidumping duties against US poultry products are somehow good for South Africa. “Mr Lovell has demonized the US poultry industry, and recently has even begun to disparage US provision of preferential duties to South African goods under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) pursuant to which South Africa sells several billion dollars in good annually to the U.S. market,” says USDFAS, adding that as of late, Lovell has begun calling the United States a “bully”. Lovell, unsurprisingly, disagrees. “Fair’ to the Americans seems to mean that they have unfettered access to our market. ‘Fair’ to us means the level playing field. In our view trade can never be ‘free’ if it is not ‘fair’ and the Americans – and others in the developed world – consider ‘fair’ an impediment to ‘free’,” he says. “The developed world position is one of bullying and not of equitable trade relations between the strong and the weak. Our industry makes up less than 2% of global production and the Americans make up more than 20% of global production. Might is not right. There are

many agricultural products where this argument is valid – it is certainly not only a chicken story. “Dumping allows imports to be cheaper than they should be and ‘cheap’ sounds good to the poor but agricultural ‘cheap’ takes away jobs wherever they existed – ‘cheap’ can never create jobs. The West African poultry industry was devastated by dumped EU poultry a few years back. We have suffered greatly over the last few years from a large increase in imports.” Since 2013, chicken meat prices in South Africa increased by 13 percent due to increased tariffs and in the past year by more than eight percent, compare to an overall inflation rate of less than five percent. The South African per capita consumption of poultry meat (of which most is chicken meat) is estimated at 36 kg per annum. In comparison, each South African consumes only three kilograms of mutton, five kilograms of pork and 17kg of beef per annum. Chicken meat consumption increased by about 70 percent since the start of

2000 and has grown to be the most important protein source in the diet of the majority of South Africans. “The reality is that the South African domestic industry hasn’t been able to keep up with increases in consumer demand and foreign imports are already an integral part of the market. The South African industry’s attempt to exclude imported chicken by manipulating the antidumping laws has not worked. Demand in the South African market has been increasing so fast that other suppliers have entered the market,” said the USDAFAS. In 2014, South Africans consumed about 1.8 million tons of broiler chickens. Local producers supplied 1.4 million tons while the rest (about 400,000 tons) was made up by imports from overseas. “Instead of insisting on keeping foreign competitors out of market, SAPA should be working with other parts of the industry – importers and foreign exporters – to ensure that there is an ample supply of product at affordable prices for all South Africans, says the USDFAS. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 9

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dancing with feet chainedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

hina has filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization against the EU over high poultry tariffs, according to Xinhuanet.

10 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

EU tariffs on Chinese exporters are around 40 percent higher than those from other nations, and China's Ministry of Commerce says that is damaging their interests. China also says the EU is breaching international trade rules. "In the EU market, Chinese poultry exporters are, in a manner of speaking, 'dancing with their feet chained'. They have to pay higher tariffs to sell their products to European buyers. China has decided to sue the EU with the aim of defending the principle of free trade and the interest of our poultry businesses," said Chen Fuli, deputy director of Department of Treaty and Law, Ministry of Commerce. The European Union has set a quota for low-tariff poultry imports. So far, the EU has given an overwhelming 96 percent of this quota

to Brazil and Thailand, leaving just 4 percent to China and the rest of the world. But because Chinese poultry exports to Europe are huge, the Ministry says Chinese poultry companies now have to pay around 40 percent more in tariffs compared to their foreign counterparts. The low quota was set for China in 2013, following the bird flu outbreak in China. But the Department of Commerce says the situation of one year should not form the permanent basis for an unfair quota. As China becomes a major exporter, there is a growing demand from the domestic businesses to protect their overseas interest. The Chinese government says it is committed to the WTO rules and hopes that its partners can also play the game by the rules.

www.meatpacking.info

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Misbranding halal beef USA: Corporate officers of Midamar Corp and Islamic Services of America in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were indicted on 92 federal charges, involving mislabeling of Halal beef products and falsifying documents.

Campy and Salmonella becoming resistant

china: Ground has been broken on a Jiangsu Nanjing Jiangnan poultry processing project in China’s Jiangning District and will be operating in July. It will be focused on high-density chicken and duck slaughtering processing, processing 100k chickens and 50k ducks a day.

Fire set to pork truck France: A group of French pig farmers from Brittany have set fire to a Spanish truck loaded with Spanish pork. The farmers are protesting against the low prices they’re getting for their animals due to French companies using cheaper meat imports.

Organic growth USA: US-based GNP Company, the parent company behind the Just BARE brand of chicken, has expanded distribution of its new certified organic Just BARE. It is now available to a limited number of US retailers.

Pakistani poultry Pakistan: The Pakistan Poultry Association has demanded compensation from the government for losses incurred by farmers due to “irrational policies” of the government. Out of the country’s 30,000 poultry farms, between 30 and 35 percent have already gone bust.

www.meatpacking.info

USDA

Chinese mega-plant

reatment options for some of the most common food-borne infections are decreasing, as types of bacteria (called ‘isolates’) continue to show resistance to antimicrobial drugs, according to a recent European Union report. For example, multi-drug resistant isolates of Salmonella continue to spread across Europe. Also, high resistance to the antimicrobial ciprofloxacin in Campylobacter isolates in both humans and animals has been reported in some Member States. “The high levels of resistance to fluoroquinolones observed in Campylobacter isolates from both humans and broilers are of concern considering that a large proportion of human Campylobacter infections come from handling, preparation and consumption of broiler meat. Such high resistance levels reduce the effective treatment options for severe human Campylobacter infections,” said Mike Catchpole, chief scientist at European Center Disease Control. More UK retailers are offering customers whole chickens being sold as ‘roast in the bag’, in a move which means consumers don’t touch raw poultry and risk the spread of Campylobacter.

Northern Ireland integrator Moy Park has introduced two lines – “extra tasty” and “garlic & herb” whole birds in sealed packaging. Aldi has also introduced roast in the bag packaging. The supermarket said it would use FFP Packaging Solutions’ Estercook product, which will open automatically when cooking to vent steam. The chicken is being supplied by 2 Sisters Food Group. Asda was the first supermarket to announce roast in the bag packaging in 2013, supplied by Faccenda Foods. Since then, both the Co-operative and Marks and Spencer have said they would only sell whole birds as “roast in the bag” to mitigate the risk of campylobacter contamination. However, at the recent Turkey Science and Production conference, Bernard Matthew’s technical director, Jeremy Hall, said the cost of a slaughterhouse intervention would be far less and offer a better way to combat Campy. A treatment that reduces Campylobacter at processing cost about 6p ($0.10) a bird, while roast in the bag adds about £1 ($1.47) to the cost of a standard whole chicken, he explained. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 11

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Horse scandal finally sees conviction

espite European governments saying that there would be swift retribution against those responsible for the horse meat scandal of two years ago, the wheels of justice have been moving slower than a cart. However, a Dutch meat trader has now been sentence to jail for his part in the deception which saw horse meat substituted for beef or pork. Willy Selten told a Dutch court there might have been some careless mistakes in his bookkeeping, but he was not a big horse meat swindler. The judge though disagreed and sentenced Selten to 2½ years in jail after being convicted to selling 300 tons of horse meat labeled as beef. Investigators who pored over the company’s books were unable to establish where exactly all the meat

came from or where it went. As boss of two companies, Selten was guilty of forging invoices, labels and written declarations and using these forged documents to trade meat, the court in Den Bosch said in its judgement. "Butchers had problems and their reputations were damaged," the court said, adding that because Selten also traded internationally, he had damaged the Dutch meat industry's image. "He saved money by buying cheaper horsemeat, mixed it with beef fat and sold it as more expensive beef," the court said. Selten's businesses are now bankrupt and the administrator has laid a claim of 11 million euros ($12 million) against him. The scandal erupted in Ireland

and Britain in January 2013, when it was found that frozen burgers supplied to several supermarkets, including the Tesco chain, contained horse DNA. Meatballs in Ikea stores, sausages in Russia and frozen burgers in Britain were pulled from the shelves by the millions as a result. Thousands of DNA tests on European beef products after the scandal revealed extensive food fraud across the European Union, with almost one in 20 meals marked as beef likely to be tainted with horsemeat. While no consumer was made ill or physically suffered from eating horsemeat, what many found the most worrying was how easy for traders to deceive the much vaunted EU traceability scheme.

IFE draws 30,000 visitors

12 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

IFE

015 saw the return of the biennial International Food Exhibition (IFE) to London, drawing 30,000 visitors from around the world. The four-day show bills itself as Europe’s foremost food and drink event, “where exhibitors and visitors from across the food and drink profession, can stay up to date with the latest industry news and trends.” While most in the meat processing industry who are interested in equipment would have headed to Angua FoodTec – held at almost the exact same time as IFE – the show is valuable at seeing coming food trends, especially in the snack trade. It is in this billion dollar trade that the meat industry seems almost stagnant, with few new protein snack products, leaving a huge window of opportunity open for someone willing to take the plunge. What MPJ found to be the most exciting product at the show was halal beef rashers (bacon), which are

made by No.1 Foods, (www.halabeefbacon.co.uk). While not tasting like pork bacon, the beef tasted excellent. Shab Khan told MPJ said what they were trying to do was to create an up-market halal food product that anyone would want.

Ostrich kebab

Attached to IPE is Pro2Pac, the UK's only packaging event for the food and drink industry. Event organizers need to spend more time developing this event; as is, it would be hard to describe Pro2Pac as a ‘must see’ show. www.meatpacking.info

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ma r k e t i n g

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Prime launches mobile App

rime Equipment Group has launched an App for its equipment which the company said will make it easier to get Prime equipment specifics. Available free for iPhone, Android and Windows mobile phones, the all-new app – Prime Equipment Connect – is designed to be a go-to source for plant managers, operators and maintenance staff using Prime Equipment Group’s innovative and reliable poultry processing machines. “We know that our custom-

ers need the latest information on the go, whether it’s reviewing tech specs, checking on product information, contacting Prime or maintaining equipment in the plant,” said Prime Equipment Group President Joe Gasbarro. “Our new mobile app is aimed at providing access to the most up-todate Prime Equipment information whenever and wherever our customers need it.” Prime Equipment Connect is designed to assist managers, service staff and maintenance staff by

providing: Instant remote access to the ever-growing library of Prime technical documents. Information on every machine Prime manufacturers, at your fingertips. A quick-call button for Prime’s emergency-service hotline. Contact info for various services. Quick-reference programming information for machine control units, designed for easy use inside plants and away from a computer.

You're better on beef y ou're better on Beef" is the new message behind Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) latest marketing campaign built on reinforcing beef’s health credentials. Targeted at time-poor families with nutrition high on their agenda, the campaign is backed by a strong nutritional message that emphasizes beef's health benefits as being high in protein, iron and zinc. “We want to remind busy working families about the benefits of eating beef. These families make up one third of Australian households and spend more than $2 billion on beef every year. We know they have a strong emotional desire to feed their families healthy, satisfying meals,” said Andrew Howied, MLA’s marketing manager consumer programs. "To get the most out of every day you need the right fuel and beef is the most nutrient rich of the popular proteins, perfect for sustained energy and fuelling healthy Australian lifestyles. We want Australians to feel inspired to eat more beef and be proud of their meal choices,” he said. A recent review of MLA’s consumer beef marketing program revealed the need to develop a stronger, revitalized message relevant to consumers all year round rather than at traditionally seasonally-focused campaign periods. The campaign’s television advertisement draws parallels with the sporting world and the notion that life is a sport, showcasing Australians approaching everyday challenges, fuelled by the benefits of eating beef. The television advertisement will screen on freeto-air and subscription channels and is supported by a

14 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

multi-dimensional promotional campaign of outdoor and shopping center advertising across major capital cities and key regional centers, 30 second radio ads, point-of sale posters, pack stickers and recipe cards in retailers and independent butchers and digital promotion across the “You’re better on Beef” Facebook page.

www.meatpacking.info

ma r k e t i n g

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My American Farm launches beef heritage game

new beef heritage game, ‘The Steaks Are High,’ was recently launched on the myamericanfarm.org website. In this game, users pick an avatar character from the beef industry and explore the beef production process from cow-calf operation, to livestock auction, to stocker ranch, and finally to the feed yard. The game reinforces national learning standards for mathematics. It also introduces users and their families to how farmers and ranchers care for their animals and the environment. The game is supported by an online eComic lesson plan and activity sheet.

The US Beef Checkoff Program funded development of the game and supporting resources. The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 farm bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. In states with qualified beef councils, states retain up to 50 cents of the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to Agriculture Department approval.

Meat Promotion Wales ambitious plans

he Welsh red meat industry should aim to increase sales by at least 34 percent to £776 million ($1.38 billion) a year by 2020. It should also increase its share of Welsh Agricultural Output by at least five per cent to £624 million ($915 million) over the same period. Together these increases will boost the turnover of the entire Welsh food and farming industry – one of the largest contributors to the Welsh economy – by at least 14 per cent to £6.5 billion ($9.54 billion) in five-year’s time. These are the headline figures contained in an ambitious new strategic action plan for the Welsh red meat industry produced by Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales following in-depth discussions with representatives of the entire supply chain as well as the Welsh Government. “It’s now time for everyone in the industry to have their say about the future direction of the Welsh red meat sector,” said Gwyn Howells HCC chief executive. “I would urge everyone who cares about its future www.meatpacking.info

to take part in the consultation process.” The plan aims to build on the success of a previous six year strategy. “Since the launch of the first strategic action plan in 2009 the Welsh Government, HCC and the red meat sector have worked together to achieve considerable progress towards the vision of creating a profitable, efficient, sustainable and innovative industry,” said Howells. “In an increasingly competitive global marketplace it is important that we continue to be dynamic in further developing our industry. “If we are to safeguard the long term future of the red meat industry and sustain the sector’s contribution towards a thriving rural economy then we must embrace the latest production and processing methods to enable us to compete effectively with our rivals. “This is an ambitious plan, but I am confident that if the entire industry continues to work closely together we can meet these bold targets.” Exports of Welsh Lamb and Welsh

Beef are prime examples of how successful the previous strategic action plan has been to improve business opportunities for farmers and processors in Wales. The value of sheep exports has grown from £109 million in 2009 to almost £155 million ($227 million) in 2013. Welsh Beef exports have more than doubled over the same period, up from £31 million to more than £69 million ($101 million) thanks to the opening up of new overseas markets and the growing premium reputation of the brands. Improvements in on-farm productivity has been encouraged, leading to better quality red meat products which have helped to underpin supply and added value to the Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef brands. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 15

we at her

Midwest corn price drive Spring growing conditions in the US Midwest have been favorable for corn and soybeans. However, lower crop prices – made even lower if this is a bumper year – means that farmers are planting fewer acres in a drive to keep up prices.

world in

california thirst California’s four-year drought continues with lowest snow pack on record. In 2014 statewide dairy and livestock losses from reduced pasture, with higher hay and silage costs were $203 million.

Fishing loss This year’s El Nino is not developing as expected off Peru. There, an expected anchovy fishing loss has not happened, meaning fishmeal and fish oil supplies will see a rebound. Good news for those using fishmeal in animal feeds.

Dry brazil It's supposed to be the rainy season in Brazil, so where has all the water gone? While things are looking promising for the soybean crop as a whole, the nation of Brazil is dealing with a second consecutive year of drought.

16 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

www.meatpacking.info

we at her

weather

Russia crop boom Western Russia is experiencing unseasonably warm, wet weather which is creating favorable conditions for crops. By mid-February, the region’s southern crop districts were devoid of snow, and snow had begun to recede in the more northerly winter grain and oilseed areas by the end of the month.

india rainfall India’s northern wheat areas have received unwelcomed rainfall which has slowed growth and raised concerns for grain quality and quantity. India is a leading global producer of wheat at nearly 96 million metric ton, with almost all consumed locally. Already poultry feed prices are up in India due to demand from farmers, this could push feed prices even higher.

irreversible damage South Africa is experiencing its worse draught in year, reducing soil moisture across its corn belt and causing “irreversible damage to some South African corn and oilseed crops,” a farmers’ association said. Yellow corn futures, used as animal feed, are at the highest in more than a year.

www.meatpacking.info

positive rains While Australia’s drought continues in central Quenslands affecting cattle restocking, the rainfall outlook for southern Australia is looking very positive for the June period which should lead to restocking efforts, says MLA. However, it could take until 2020 for full efforts to be realized. Drought conditions continue to affect organic grain production, which in turns affects organic livestock production.

May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 17

b a r b e cu e

LOAN Barbecue STAR

ome of the nicest people you can ever hope to meet you’ll find in Texas. They are polite, friendly, and slow to anger – except when a discussion turns to one of three things: politics, the Alamo, or barbecue, with BBQ probably the leading cause of most fights between friends. Just how serious do they take barbecue? Texas Monthly, the state’s leading magazine with 2.8 million readers, has its own barbecue editor which has to be the most coveted job on the planet. The same magazine bravely publishes each year an issue with what it claims are the current best 50 barbecue joints in Texas. With at least 300 to choose from, no other issue it publishes is either praised or vilified as much as this one – all depending on whether or not your favourite stand is mentioned. Show most Texans the 18 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

special issue and you’ll hear with a snarl: “Don’t get me started.” The fact is Texans love to eat barbecue like no other food. They think nothing of travelling for hours to sample the smoked meats from the next best pit master. While wine snobs will praise tiny, unheard of vineyards, Texas will do the same with barbecue stands – the harder to find, the more obscure the hours, the better. Indeed, some aficionados turn their back on stands once they get popular and started adding ‘unnecessary’ extras like plates, benches, and plumbed toilets. There are nearly 27 million people in Texas and it’s not a stretch of the imagination of say there are 27 million competing theories of barbecue’s beginnings, which part of Texas produces the best, the right kind of wood required, and the need – or not - for sauce. They can’t even agree on the spelling. Is it barbecue, bar-b-que, barbeque, or just BBQ? www.meatpacking.info

b a r b e cu e y

You can smell it in the air; the sweet aroma of meat being smoked, the ultimate Chanel Number 5 for men. While for years it something only sampled in Texas or the Deep South, today good quality barbecue – and long lines of customers – can now be found in cities across the USA, and in the most trendy spots of cities worldwide. If you’re feeling tempted to fire up a smoker to cash in on the growing craze, remember this: be sure to face Texas every day and thank the Lone Star state for setting the standard. The only thing all would agree on is that if you’re not from Texas, you just don’t get it.

the history

or at least three hundred years barbecue has been produced all over Texas according to a variety of methods, from Mexican barbacoa to the sauceladen, pork style inherited from the Deep South, leading to four distinct styles. But what most people in Texas consider the quintessential form was created in the Hill Country of central Texas by German and Czech immigrants who immigrated to Texas in the 1840s. Led by Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach, www.meatpacking.info

these thousands of German settlers thought they were moving to a farming paradise. But the ‘rich, fertile soil’ they had been promised was anything but, the ‘gentle weather’ was hotter than any could have ever imagined, and one other little fact that the Baron failed to mention was that the Comanches – one of the fiercest Native American tribes ever – were already on the land. However, despite all these hardships the German pioneers thrived and even made one of the few peace treaties with the Native Americans that was never broken. Due to a lack of means of keeping meat cool, butchers in these German communities would smoke their unsold meat – often times the toughest cuts such as the brisket – towards the end of the week. They used techniques from the May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 19

b a r b e cu e

the standards

bryan Kuntz

Old Country which involved rubbing the meat with salt and pepper, and then slowly cooking it by smoke in an enclosed barbecue made of brick, which made the meat tender. Barbecuing was just a sideline for the butchers and once all the meat was sold, that was it until the next weekend. This tradition continues in Texas with most barbecue joints in their infancy only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday – with another reason for this being that most future pit bosses have to support their BBQ habit with a fulltime job. Another tradition from the German settlers is the side orders commonly found in all Texan barbecues joints which consist of potato salad and coleslaw. Throw into this mixture the German and Czech immigrants’ recipes for Pilsner-style beers and you can see why some call these pioneers the true Messiahs of Texas barbecue. 20 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

hile in Texas turkey, chicken, lamb, and other meats are making their way into barbecue lore, the Holy Trinity remains beef brisket, pork spare ribs, and sausage, with brisket being what a pit master is judged on. Briskets are the pectoral muscles from the chest area of the steer between the forelegs. Because cattle have no collarbones these boneless muscles get a huge amount of work, so there isn't much fat marbling within the muscle and there's a lot of springy connective tissue in and around the muscle fibers, which explains the cut’s toughness. Much of the world's brisket is made into corned (salt) beef or pastrami which is why if no one else in your area is selling fresh brisket, you can always count on a Jewish kosher butcher having it in stock. There are two briskets per animal, weighing anywhere from eight to 16 pounds, and two distinct muscles in a whole ‘packer’s cut’ brisket: A long flat rectangular lean muscle that sometimes comes to a point that is called the flat (pectoralis profundus or pectoralis major), and a narrower, thicker, fattier, oval shaped muscle called the point (pectoralis superficialis or pectoralis minor. Before a brisket goes into the smoker it’s rubbed down with a dry rub that can be as simple as salt and black pepper, or as complicated as desired. Most would agree that the simpler, the better. At this point the brisket could be chilled overnight or go directly into the smoker. Cooking temperatures range from 180 degrees (F) to 350 deg (F). Most pit masters go for cool and long, with a cooking time anywhere from 12 to 20 hours. The best barbecue joints then take the brisket out, chill it for anywhere from eight to 48 hours, and then finish cooking the meat over fire which at this stage is more of a warming process. To some people – meaning people outside of Texas – it's still not yet barbecue unless it now has a sweet red sauce smothered on it. Not Texans. "In Texas we celebrate great brisket by not messing with it," says Daniel Vaughn, the barbecue critic for Texas Monthly. "If it's done right then you slice it pencil thick and slap it on a piece of butcher paper." Bryan Kuntz, fifth generation Texan and barbecue fanatic, agrees. “To be a good barbecue, it has to taste great without sauce. If it has to rely on the sauce, then it wasn’t good to begin with.” www.meatpacking.info

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Salt Lick Barbecue

If you build it they will come

bryan Kuntz

For too many of us, 'barbecue' has been something of legend, something out there on the distant horizon that will forever be out of reach like El Dorado. But these days are changing. Urban barbecue joints are springing up in unlikely places such as London, Sydney, San Diego, and even New York City, making decent barbecue in a range of the clasisic styles such as Carolina, St Louis, and Southern. But those true masters of the grill, those who set the standards, are still out there as well â&#x20AC;&#x201C; especially in Texas. Velo Mitrovich pays Salt Lick a visit

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bryan Kuntz

s you drive out to Salt Lick’s original barbecue stand in Driftwood, Texas – about 40 minutes outside of Austin depending on the traffic – it’s hard to believe that thousands of people make the same journey every week. Salt Lick has been in the middle of nowhere since its first pit was built in 1967 and the years haven’t changed that fact. Despite directions and a GPS, if you’ve never been there before, it’s hard to believe you’re going in the right direction. But then, even before you see Salt Lick, you can smell it in the air; the sweet, sweet smell of burning oak and you know you’ve arrived to have some of the world’s best barbecue. Texans can be funny about their barbecue joints. Those who profess to be true connoisseurs of the smoke seem to question success. According to some, this explains why Salt Lick doesn’t make Texas Monthly’s Top 50 barbecue list despite ‘outsiders’ like Adam Richman of Man vs Food describing its barbecue as being “one of the best things I have ever eaten”. Because the fact is, no matter how you stack the oak wood, Salt Lick is successful – very successful. We’re talking about just two locations and a small airport annex that sells 1 million pounds of brisket a year, along with 550,000 lbs of pork ribs, 125,000 lbs of sausage, 110,000 lbs of chicken, and 80,000 lbs of turkey, waiting lines of over two hours, and now a commercial vineyard. And to think, it owes it all to a yellow legal pad, a father wanting to spend more time with his family, and 54 options. The roots of Salt Lick run back over 100 years, according to Scott Roberts, the current owner of the Salt Lick. He says his great-grandmother Bettie was a 17-year-old Mississippi orphan who told a surveyor passing through the area that if he married her and brought her to Texas, she’d bear and raise all his children. James Howard took Bettie up on her offer and brought her to Driftwood, Texas. Roxanna, one of Bettie’s daughters, raised Scott’s father, Thurman, in Driftwood, which is where he would have stayed except for the US Navy having other plans for him. The Texas boy wound up in Hawaii, where he met his wife Hisako who was born on Kauai of Japanese descent. They were married shortly after WW II. In 1956, Thurman and Hisako moved with their two young sons to Driftwood. Unfortunately, Thurman travelled constantly across the state working for a bridge

construction company. He dreamed of spending every day where his family had put down generations of roots. One day he and Hisako took out a yellow legal pad and wrote down 54 things the family could do to stay in Driftwood. The idea for Salt Lick was 14th on the list. In 1967, exactly 100 years since the family had first moved to Driftwood, Thurman decided he would clear some land where the TM 1826 road crossed Onion Creek and build a barbeque pit with his son, Scott. Thurman, who was known for his delicious barbecue at family reunions, figured he would cook meat for paying customers. Thurman would go to the pit on Thursday night and start cooking. He stayed for the weekend, sleeping on a cot, until all the meat sold. As the open pit fed the sweet smell of barbecue into the air, those passing by would www.meatpacking.info

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stop to buy some and take it home with them, and eventually Thurman would come home earlier and earlier. In time a picnic table was added underneath the shade of some nearby trees. Then another, and another, and before they knew it, concrete was poured and an entire porch was available for customers to come and sit down to enjoy their dinner. Eventually it became evident that the venture was no longer a roadside attraction, but instead, a full-fledged eating establishment which is Salt Lick today, still using the original barbecue smoking pit. www.meatpacking.info

secrets of success

hile Scott Roberts would say that the reason for Salt Lick’s success is it brisket – which will be covered shortly – there is a lot more going on in Driftwood besides barbecue and smoke. Truth be told, while there is no doubt about the quality of Salt Wood’s barbecue and sides, May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 25

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with around 300 barbecue stands in Texas, can any joint really claim to be the best? However, early in the game, Thurman, Hisako, and Scott realized that the total experience – the destination – is what would bring people back over and over again. You have a restaurant that has people waiting up to three hours on a weekend to get inside. You build another pit. They still keep coming. You open up a take-out window and let customers bring their own bottles and beer kegs – turning the parking lot into one giant tailgate party. They still keep coming. You have live music played outside. They still keep coming. You open up another stand in Round Rock – just north of Austin. Now they keep coming to two locations. You open up mail orders. Open up catering. Open up a vineyard and start selling BBQ White and BBQ Red wine. And throughout it all, you don’t ever forget what has allowed you to succeed – your customers. In spending time going over online comments about Salt Lick, it is a real challenge to find a negative amid all the positives – a man wrote in 2009 that he felt he was not allowed to eat all that he wanted with an ‘all you can eat’ platter. But what is more typical is this. A woman writes from Seattle saying that UPS held up her meat order from Salt Lick until the frozen meat had defrosted and turned possibly bad. Although the problem laid entirely with UPS, when she mentioned this to Salt Lick they immediately refunded her order. You create a product, you create a destination, you create a name and then you nurture all three. That is the secret to the success of Salt Lick.

the other secret

ALL IMAGES: bryan Kuntz

f you’re selling a million pounds a year of any product in a restaurant, you must be doing something right. Scott Roberts says that when buying your brisket, always buy USDA Choice meat or higher. It’s false economy to go with cheaper cuts because all you will end up with is tough meat. “My dad used to say, ‘If you start with a good piece of meat, you have a good chance of ending up with a good product. If you start with a bad piece of meat, you’re going to end up with a worse product than what you began with’.” Always look at your brisket before buying and make sure that the thickness of the lion is uniform across the front end – it should not be 26 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

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skinny at one end and thick at the other. This will lead to the meat being cooked unevenly. The next step in the process is the seasoning or dry rub. While some advocate exotic blends, at Salt Lick they use only salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. First the brisket is sprinkled liberally with salt, then with an equal amount of pepper, and then just a pinch of cayenne pepper which is sprinkled in a single line down the center of the meat. The seasoning is rubbed into the meat, the brisket is flipped over, and the process repeated. Scott believes that once seasoned, the brisket should go immediately on the fire so this needs to be ready before the seasoning begins. At Salt Lick they use primarily Texas live oak for the fire to which is added pecan shells. “We like to sear our meat at a higher temperature first before letting it slow-cook,” says Scott. “When you fire up your smoker, get it to 225 degrees (F) to begin the searing process. We sear the meat for one hour and then start the slow cooking process.” The fire’s temperature is reduced to around 185 degrees (F) and the meat cooked for around 75 minutes per pound. For the 14-pound briskets that Salt Lick likes to use, it takes 28 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

around 17 ½ hours total. Although a lot of central Texas barbecue restaurants prefer to smoke their meat dry without sauce, Salt Lick chooses to use sauce throughout the cooking process because they believe it’s a key part of layering flavor. “Our sauce has a balanced sugar and acid content that does two things. First, it creates a moisture barrier between the meat and the radiant heat. The sauce caramelizes which keeps the meat from drying out. Second, as the sauce caramelizes, it creates a second, smoky flavor component from flare-ups when it drips in the fire,” says Scott. Once cooked, the brisket is taken off the fire and then chilled between 36 to 48 hours to lock in flavors. Then it’s taken out, sauced again, and place directly over heat in one of the pits for a final caramelization. “What’s the secret to a good dish?” says Scott. “Ultimately the answer is you. If you respect the land around you, respect all the ingredients that go into the dish to make it right – and the hard work and effort it took to make those ingredients – and respect the very heritage that made you what you are today, then you hold the key to great food.” www.meatpacking.info

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From the Salt Lick cookbook: Salt Lick Prime Rib with Jalapeño-Tomatillo Horseradish Sauce

bryan Kuntz

On Sundays, we offer a special menu item: prime rib. It’s a bit of an indulgence for the meat lover in all of us, particularly popular for Father’s Day. We tend to run out before noon. We use a bonein prime rib. The flavor of prime rib is superior if cooked on the bone. For this recipe, the garlic salt and smoke combine to make an amazing flavor.

T H E S A LT L I C K C O O K B O O K

1 10-pound prime rib roast Garlic salt Heat smoker to 225 degrees. Evenly season (medium heavy) prime rib with garlic salt. Place rib on smoking rack midway from heat source. DO NOT baste prime ribs. Smoke for 2 hours. Check internal temperature at thickest part of prime rib, targeting 125 degrees. If it has not reached 125 degrees, check in 15-minute intervals until temperature is reached. Remove prime ribs from smoker and place on wire rack, bone-side down. Serve with jalapeño-tomatillo horseradish sauce. Jalapeño-Tomatillo Horseradish Sauce: 12 tomatillos, husked and washed 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 2 jalapeños, chopped 2 tablespoons canola oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons rice vinegar ¼ cup prepared horseradish, drained ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and jalapeño in medium roasting pan, toss with oil, and season. Cook until mixture is soft, but do not allow it to color, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to food processor, and process until smooth. Add vinegar, horseradish, and cilantro, and pulse just to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape into bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. www.meatpacking.info

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n a Pace bottled picante salsa commercial from the 1980s, Texan cowboys are sitting around a campfire putting salsa on their food when they run out of their favorite brand. The cook, figuring all bottled salsas are the same, hands them another bottle. A cowboy takes one disgusting taste, looks at the bottle and it all comes perfectly clear – this salsa was made in New York City. “Get a rope,” he says, casting a mean look at the cook.

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The question is: can genuine, authentic barbecue be made outside of Texas? The answer: Yes, even in New York City – but you have to play by a different set of rules. What most urban barbecue joint owners have found out, while their love might be in the smoke, it’s the booze which is going to pay the bills. “From the beginning, I've always considered the Arrogant Swine to be a bar more than a restaurant. Cooking hog just doesn't pay the bills,” says Tyson Ho whose barbecue joint is

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ALL IMAGES: Clay Williams

The Urban BBQ

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located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Urban barbecue joints that try to make it on meat and sides alone have to either sell massive volumes of meat – which is next to impossible in an urban setting – or cut every corner possible, which in the end will drive customers to a better restaurant. Another problem is, while Salt Lick’s Barbecue might be in the middle of nowhere, urban barbecue joints aren’t. Some can get around air pollution control laws by just putting up a fan to redirect smoke, but others need to install filtration systems. For instance, Phil’s Barbecue in San Diego uses a Smoke-Hog emission control system from BPA, while Brazen BBQ, also in San Diego uses a roof, smoke stack filter.

arrogant swine

he Big Apple currently has around 40 barbecue joints with eight of these ‘stickburners’, which are places that cook solely with wood, with no

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assist from gas or electricity. Most joints across the US are not stickburners due to the cost, transport, and storage of wood, pollution control laws, and the fact it takes more skill and labor to cook with only wood. Tyson Ho’s Arrogant Swine is making a name for itself in Bushwick, Brooklyn. There he cooks whole pigs in a Carolina barbecue style – the only one in New York City doing so. “I’m on a mission to bring traditional Carolina BBQ to New York City,” says Ho. “This involves slow smoking the entire pig for almost an entire day until she’s meltingly tender and full of flavor. We then mix all the parts of the pig together so that you get a taste of all the different parts of the animal in every bite.” Besides pig, customers lined up at 44 foot long bar can try 20 beers on tap, 40 bottled craft beers, and enough whiskeys “to drown a small horse,” says Ho. Along with the inside bar, Arrogant Swine features a 3,000 sq ft beer garden. Foodie blog ‘Serious Eats’ has documented Tyson Ho’s creating Arrogant Swine and is a May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 31

MPJ

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must read for anyone considering taking the plunge into a smoke career: www.seriouseats. com/building-a-bbq-restaurant

tank house

ike microbreweries bringing back taste to beer, Sacramento’s urban barbecue joints are doing the same. For the last 27-years Sacramento’s barbecue scene has been ruled by J.R.’s Texas Barbecue, but despite winning local awards, it only seems to appeal to those who haven’t had excellent barbecue to judge it by. Located in an industrial estate which allows for plenty of parking at the restaurant which seats 149, J.R.’s volume selling and catering service allows it to survive without a liquor license. With the amount of flies inside as well, it seems to survive without pest control. Now in Sacramento there are six urban barbecue joints smoking only with wood and each producing meat to be proud of. The Tank House, located in Sacramento’s popular midtown, is one of the newest, having been around for two-years. If reviews are to go

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by, it still has growing pains, with the key one being a lack of consistency. When it’s good, however, it’s more than good and MPJ could see it taking on the best of Texas. The wood used is a mixture of oak and almond, thanks in part to California’s four-year drought creating an almond wood surplus. Neighboring business complained about the smoke when the restaurant first opened, but the only concession the restaurant had to make was to place an industrial fan next to the chimney to blow it in a different direction. Like Arrogant Swine, The Tank House is a bar first, and a barbecue joint second, with the barbecue being what brings the crowds in, and the bar tab paying the bills. Unlike more traditional joints, The Tank House has sides such as macaroni & cheese and tater tots, with ‘dirty’ versions available with both. This consists of smoked pork butt or chicken added to the dish. If you are thinking about joining the barbecue craze, consider having different sides besides the traditional coleslaw, cornbread, and beans. While talking to customers, at The Tank House, MJP found some who fallen in love with dirty macaroni & cheese and have yet to try anything else on the menu. www.meatpacking.info

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air chilled chicken growing in popularity

At Atlanta’s IPPE this year, while I was looking at one of the huge chicken water chillers on display, someone came up to me and said: “Using one of those is like Saturday night at the lumberjack camp.” He looked at my puzzled face. “That’s when all the lumberjacks come into town and take a bath in the same tub with the same water how clean can that be? So with all these problems with pathogens, why do the same with chickens?” Louise Cook of Pennine Environmental Services gives this paper on air chilled chicken

ince the mid-1960s in the UK, air chilling has been the predominant method of cooling chicken carcasses for fresh sale to the required post-evisceration temperature. This method of chilling was first developed by industry in response to a request from leading retailers for a product with an improved appearance and low bacteria counts – results which existing techniques such as water chilling were less able to provide satisfactorily. The market for chicken and its popularity with consumers continues to grow – despite well-publicized issues with naturally-occurring bacterial pathogens such as Campylobacter, E.coli and Salmonella. The EU Commission, in its latest Short Term Outlook report, has forecast EU poultry production to continue to 34 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

increase over the next two years. Strong growth in 2014 was led by Spain, Poland and Germany where production increased by 10%, 9% and 4% respectively. Poultry production in the EU in 2014 was 13.2 metric tons - an increase of 3.7%. In the USA, a similar theme appears, with higher production levels forecast for 2015. Supply has been increased to meet the demand but this has not resulted in lower prices for suppliers. With beef prices currently high – and expected to stay high throughout 2015 - in the States chicken provides good value for money for end users and so the increased demand for chicken continues. Air chilling is carried out by hanging birds on shackles on a conveyor track and targeting air directly into the bird cavity and over the external surface. This controlled temperature and www.meatpacking.info

direct airflow maximizes heat exchange and bird capacity, while minimizing dehydration, wing freezing and residence time on the conveyor. The layout of the conveyor tracks ensures that there is no drip between levels, eliminating the cross-product contamination which is far more likely during water chilling when the birds are immersed en masse into a tank of iced water. In the air chilling process, the application of correctly refrigerated air to the conveyor in two areas, the pre-chill section and secondary chill section, has many benefits. These include: reduced dehydration effects; elimination of defrost time; achieving the desired deep muscle temperature; and enabling continuous processing without loss of capacity. Traditionally, US poultry processors have used the water chilling (immersion) method of cooling carcasses post-evisceration. Now, in order to take advantage of improved market conditions and provide chicken with a good appearance, texture, flavor and reduced bacterial count, many US suppliers are now adopting air chilling in their production facilities. For example, Pitman Farms in Sanger, California, produces the Mary’s Free-Range Chickens brand. The company has chosen air chilling as its preferred method as it fits in with its family-run, environmentally-friendly, and premium-brand ethos. The company’s website says: “Air Chill helps inhibit the spread of bacteria by keeping all of the chickens independent, and saves 30,000 gallons of chlorinated water every day! The air chilled method produces a better tasting chicken. With no water added, the air chilled method keeps the ‘real’ chicken flavor and juices.” Based in California where water is scarce, air chilling is particularly compatible with the prevailing environmental factors. The company also prides itself on its excellent animal welfare and high quality products – and again air chilling enables to company to produce chicken with a better flavor, texture and appearance than that of water chilled chicken. While water chilling is still the predominant method used in the US, food scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Richard B Russell Research Center in Athens, Georgia, have reported that US poultry-processing plants are switching to air-chilling. It’s possible that producers are hoping to expand into the European market where air chilling is the norm – but is that the only reason? It’s reduced dehydration, in particular, which makes air chilled chicken more popular with consumers, commanding a premium price in the US. Because the air chilled chickens are not absorbing liquid like the water chilled chickens, consumers generally concur that the taste and www.meatpacking.info

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pennine environmental services

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Above: Research is showing that air chilled chickens have less pathogens than chicken chilled in water baths

texture of the meat is improved, and the skin is crispier when cooked. In 2007 and 2008, ARS food scientists Northcutt, Smith and Huezo - examined the chilling stage of poultry processing in order to determine which method resulted in the best meat quality, food safety and water management. Their study found that air chilled meat was more tender than water-chilled. As well as improving meat quality, air-chilling provided higher cooked-meat yields due to reduced moisture loss during cooking. In terms of water management, the trio concluded that reducing water use during chilling would not only be economically better for the industry, it would of course conserve water – particularly in drought-hit areas of the US. Researchers estimate that processors could save about 4.5 billion gallons of water per year if all 9 billion birds processed annually in the US were air chilled. Added to the fact that poultry production has had to be cut back in certain areas of the US during the current long-term droughts – it seems logical to adopt air chilling due to environmental considerations. A study conducted by the three researchers checked for concentrations of E.coli, May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 35

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Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken carcasses. Although both chilling methods reduced the amount of bacteria recovered from the carcasses, a slightly higher reduction in Campylobacter was observed after air-chilling. Sampling the same carcass before and after chilling provided a more sensitive comparison than the analysis of post-chill bacterial concentrations. The data from the water-chilled birds agreed with previous studies, but the significant bacteria reduction during air chilling was unexpected. Although Campylobacter in chickens can be killed by thorough cooking, it is the most common form of food poisoning in the UK, affecting an estimated 280,000 people a year with poultry the source of the majority of these cases, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The FSA has issued well-publicized guidance to the general public in the correct handling, washing, storage, and cooking of chicken to reduce the occurrence of food poisoning caused 36 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: Air chillers use refrigerated air blown at high volume indiscriminately through the area

by Campylobacter. Despite finger-pointing going every which way between grower, processor, and store, the FSA says that chicken is safe as long as consumers follow good kitchen practice. Despite this positive approach, the FSA is currently conducting a year-long survey of Campylobacter in fresh chickens. Leading UK retailers and their poultry suppliers are working on different technologies, tests and interventions in their efforts to tackle and reduce contamination. The Environment Agency’s “Treating and Processing Poultry” paper states: “Tests have shown that air chilling can reduce the contamination rate by up to three times more than immersion chilling. Most producers have switched to air chilling in an effort to reduce water consumption.” Air chilling benefits the producer through an improved product; benefits the environment through reduced water consumption and benefits the consumer through reduced bacteria and a better flavor. www.meatpacking.info

C R U ST

FREEZ I NG

Introduction to

cryogenic processing Crust freezing is already in wide use for many protein products, including glazed chicken wings or marinated chicken breasts, in order to increase yield, reduce weepage and dehydration losses, and protect food quality. Although state-of-the-art cryogenic solutions can often save processors hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per line, the use of in-line cryogenic crust freezing to improve high-speed slicing operations is still new. In a report written by Linde Food, we look at cryogenic basics.

ryogenic food processing technology has made significant advances in the past five years. Inline and batch cryogenic processing systems can speed production or achieve higher volumes in limited space, often while improving quality. Technically the term “cryogenic” pertains to temperatures below -238 ºF (-150 ºC), though it is generally used in the food industry to refer to any cold processing that uses either CO2 or liquid N2. At atmospheric pressure, N2 is a liquid at -320 ºF (-196 ºC), and CO2 is a solid at -108 ºF. The gases are stored as liquids and conveyed through insulated piping systems to the cryogenic process on the plant floor. The liquid cryogen is then injected into the freezer in order to remove the required heat from the food. In the meat, poultry and seafood industries, cryogenic processing can efficiently bring protein products to the desired equilibration temperature, and can reduce the need for holding freezers to reduce overall freezing costs at a plant. Cryogenic solutions are also used for freezing entrees and marinated products, and to individually quick freeze (IQF) small items, such as diced products. In both protein and baking operations, cryogenic chilling can improve the quality of downstream operations. Cryogenic systems can also supplement or boost the performance of traditional mechanical chillers and freezers. It should be noted and understood that cryogenic freezing solutions offer substantial operational benefits to the food manufacturer. Cryogenic gases freeze/chill food products quicker than traditional methods. This can 38 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

equate to higher throughput, quicker changeover rates, and a reduction in floor space needed for the equipment.

CRYOGENIC PROCESS ADVANTAGES

o better understand the advantages of cryogenic processing, it is useful to review how freezing can impact food structure. Foods freeze at different rates, and processing requirements differ. Empirical testing on full-scale freezers/ chillers can closely define control parameters to optimize the process, minimizing cryogen use and cycle times for dramatically lower operating costs. During cryogenic chilling or freezing, heat (measured in BTUs) is removed from foods at a high rate by both conductive and convective heat transfer processes. Conductive heat transfer occurs when a liquid cryogen directly contacts food or when foods contact cold surfaces. Convective heat transfer occurs from the circulation of cryogen around or through the food product. The design of injection nozzles, blowers and control systems can optimize flow and velocity.

FREEZING PROTEINS

ost meats, which can be up to 75 percent water, freeze at about 28°F. However, to properly freeze all the water inside the protein requires temperatures well below freezing, at least -8 to -22 °F (-22 to -30 °C). With cryogenic freezing, www.meatpacking.info

C R U ST

FREEZ I NG

freeze food faster, preserving food quality. With inline cryogenic processing, high volumes of food move at a controlled rate through a flow of cryogen. Depending on the process, the cryogen that contacts the food product may be in liquid, solid or gaseous form. Improving a plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s productive capacity is often a key consideration as an operation grows. Inline cryogenic processing is well suited to high-value products and prepared foods, including marinated poultry and individually quick frozen (IQF) meats, seafood and vegetables. Because of the high freezing efficiency of new cryogenic equipment, a single freezer can sometimes do the work of two existing freezers, or help fold two or more production lines into one continuous flow.

SOLUTION TYPES proteins are typically processed in the -40 to -100 Â°F range. With traditional freezing methods, water molecules between individual muscle fibers freeze first. This is because water inside the cells contains more salt which lowers the freezing temperature, and because the water inside the cellular membrane is under higher pressure. As the temperature drops, water pressure inside the membrane increases, and water molecules may push through cellular walls and into the space between the cells. Then as ice crystals form and grow, they press back against the membrane and damage the structure of the meat. In contrast, when freezing cryogenically, water molecules are predominantly frozen before they can press through the membrane walls and move into the space between the muscle cells. Proper freezing is almost instantaneous, though the water inside the cells is still the last to freeze. However, the rapid freeze produces only microcrystals which are so small the internal structure of the muscle fiber is preserved.

CARBON DIOXIDE OR NITROGEN

ith mechanical freezing and chilling methods, a coolant, typically anhydrous ammonia, expands as it circulates through coils inside the compartment to remove heat, and then returns back to the condenser to be re-chilled. While ammonia offers favorable heat transfer properties, it is toxic and can corrode metals. In contrast, CO2 and N2 are inert gases. Cryogenic freezers also operate at colder temperatures than mechanical freezers, and www.meatpacking.info

Above: Cryogenic immersion, using liquid nitrogen, is the fastest method of freezing..

Tunnel freezers

ith tunnel freezing, food products are loaded onto a straight conveyor belt. The amount of food that may be stacked on the belt will depend on the mass and type of food, and the height of the freezer inlet. The height of the opening may be adjustable but the average opening is around four inches. The goal is to maximize the cryogen within the freezer while minimizing the amount of room air being introduced into the freezer. As food moves into the freezer, the cryogen and circulation fans are used to remove heat from the product. The design of the cryogen injection and the circulation of the cryogenic gases within the freezer contribute to heat transfer and cryogenic efficiency. High-speed blowers may direct and enhance heat transfer. Some conveyors permit gas flow through the belt for better convection throughout the freezer. Food may move to another area for further processing before final packaging and transport, or moved to a holding freezer for final equilibration or full freezing. For many foods, a crust freeze is all that is necessary. Proteins such as deli meats, for example, may travel to a slicing area, where a precise crust freeze will improve slicing quality and minimize product losses and unnecessary downtime. New modular designs permits additional cryogenic freezer modules to be added in order to quickly expand production capacity.

Immersion freezers

ryogenic immersion is the fastest method of freezing. Food products are loaded onto a conveyor belt and submersed in a bath of May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 39

FREEZ I NG

all images: linde foods

C R U ST

liquid nitrogen (LIN). Because the LIN bath is approximately -320ÂşF, the outside surface of the food hardens instantly, and further heat is drawn from the inside of the product. While different food products freeze at different rates, it is not necessary for products to remain immersed until they are fully frozen. Once removed from the LIN, the products will continue to freeze and equilibrate. Heat will be drawn from the inside of the product over time until the entire product is at one unified temperature.

Spiral freezers

ith cryogenic spiral freezing, foods travel on a conveyor belt that wraps around a drum through the freezer. The spiral belt design accommodates high volumes of food products in less floor space, while applying a controlled freezing rate to the food product. There can be, however, temperature differences across the width of the belt. Properly engineered airflow inside the freezer will maximize heat transfer efficiency and help lower operating costs.

Immersion spiral freezers

n immersion spiral freezer combines the advantages of both immersion and spiral freezing methods using nitrogen in both stages. Immersion spirals are especially useful for proteins such as seafood and cooked poultry items to be fully frozen. The immersion bath crust freezes the product for high-moisture retention and seals seasonings to the outer layer. High-volumes of protein then proceed on the conveyor belt to be fully frozen within the spiral stage in one continuous process. 40 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: Crust freezing allows for ultra thin deli slices of meats and bacon. Right: Depth of crust freezing

Cryo-mechanical freezer systems

s production demands increase at a plant, existing mechanical freezing systems can outgrow their capacity. A cryogenic system can be added to boost capacity of the existing systems at a customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s facility. This solution allows a customer to increase production in a limited space without making a major investment in an entirely new system. With something like a Linde CryoAssist system, a high-efficiency cryogenic freezer is installed before or after a mechanical freezer to improve throughput and performance. By sharing the freezing task with a cryogenic freezer, the overall process can benefit from lower operating costs, higher quality, and increased production rates.

High-speed deli-log slicing with cryogenic crust freezing

eli-log crust-freezing operations must be optimized and matched to upstream and downstream operations. High-speed deli-log

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C R U ST

slicing equipment, for example, can operate at higher efficiency when deli logs are cryogenically crust-frozen to precise temperatures and depths prior to slicing. This can help limit “strings” and other hang ups that lead to less-than-perfect slicing and stacking. State-of-the-art cryogenic freezing solutions can help deli-meat processors: Boost high-speed slicer throughput. Some deli-logs are more prone to slicing and stacking problems than others. But every deli log meat has an optimal crust-freezing “zone” (temperature and depth) that must be matched to the slicer to reduce downtime and achieve peak volumes and quality throughput. Mechanical crust-freezers and older cryogenic equipment can add drag to the crust-freezing process (and consume valuable floor space). Improve consistency of process quality or high product quality. High-speed blades must start with a clean bite into the surface of the log to achieve a clean finish to the slice. While blades must be sharp, the proper crust freeze is essential for slicing with highly consistent quality at high speeds. Minimize yield losses. “Strings” and other hang ups lead to less-than-perfect slicing and stacking. With blades cutting deli-logs averaging $7 per lb. or more at high speeds, “minor” variations in slicing can quickly pile into significant yield losses. Boost productivity / Reduce cycle times. Existing in-line crust-freezing equipment may not deliver high-volume quality and rapid cycle times needed for new high-speed slicing equipment. In addition, mechanical freezers can add unnecessary time, energy and variation to the temperature equilibration process. It takes time and labor to move the delilogs from mechanical cold-storage areas into production. The protein is subject to swings in ambient temperatures as it thaws from the outside. www.meatpacking.info

Above: A deli-log being frozen at West Liberty Foods using a Linde tunnel freezer.

FREEZ I NG

linde's crust freezing

igh-volume food processing operations that crust-freeze prior to slicing can often quickly improve the repeatability of high-speed slicers while enhancing sliceabililty, quality, and yield. The key is matching the crust-freezing process to the slicing operation, says Linde LLC. In deli-log operations, every meat has an optimal crust-freezing temperature and depth, and this ‘zone’ must be matched to the highspeed slicer to achieve peak production volume. Of course, the blade must be properly sharpened and maintained, but an optimal crust freeze helps ensure consistent high-quality slices and considerable reduction of fines. This can reduce unnecessary downtime on slicers and yield losses due to “strings” from casings and hang-ups so there is less product waste and more stays on the bottom line. “Our technology reaches each meat’s optimal freezing zone to ensure the quality of the food remains intact while increasing the plant’s productivity,” says Mark DiMaggio, head of Food & Beverage, for Linde in North America. Linde’s Cryoline MT tunnel freezer, which meets AMI guidelines of sanitary design, has proven ideal for helping to satisfy production demand for high-quality repeatability on stacked, fluffed and shingled slices. The Linde MT Hygienic Tunnel helps maximize plant floorspace through the optimal use of cryogen, and the tightly controlled freezing process eliminates the variability associated with the mechanically refrigerated (ammonia or Freon) rooms and blast chillers, according to Linde. The hygienic design of the Linde tunnel freezer also provides easy access for cleaning to help reduce labor and maintenance time. Base models can freeze between 400 to 1,400 lb/hr depending on size and loads. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 41

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frying choice Frying is one of the fastest heat transfer methods available for cooking a wide variety of applications including meat, poultry, and snack foods. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market, however, consumer demand is becoming much more discerning and refine â&#x20AC;&#x201C; consumers not only look for food thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s readily available, they want products that taste great, and exhibit a desirable color, texture, and smell for a complete sensory experience. Neil Anderson of FOODesign gives this paper

mplementing the right frying and processing equipment is an effective way you can add considerable value to food products. For example, the frying processes can give foods such as chicken a crisp and firm outer coating, while keeping the inside tender and juicy, a texture combination that appeals to consumers. Intense flavors can also be obtained via frying due to the caramelization of the sugars present in food. The selection of frying machinery, however, is a multi-faceted decision and manufacturers must make sure they identify the frying system that best suits their needs. This will encompass functional and operational requirements, marketing and consumer needs, as well as legislative regulations regarding food safety and hygiene. Specifying a production line should also be considered in the context of developments in the market, since the machinery must be able to contend with or adapt to ever changing consumer demands.

best for your product

inding the best solution for the product or product range that is going to be processed is essential. The type of product, its sensory qualities and physical dimensions all have to be considered when selecting a frying system. Depending on the type of food category, there may be special considerations as each type of product has its own set of attributes, unique structure, weight, surface texture and topography which will determine the processing requirements. Snack foods like potato chips and tortilla chips, for example, will have entirely 42 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

different processing requirements from more complex products, such as battered or breaded meats. As such, flexibility in design is key when it comes to catering for different cooking profiles. While frying and processing equipment must be suitable for handling the specific types of food products, it should also be customized to fulfil requirements for taste, texture and visual appeal. However, the level of customization will depend on the desired attributes of the end product. Continuous frying, for example, is more suitable for regular potato chips which are typically light in color, crispy and finely textured. These attributes come from the potato chips being continually processed, for a short amount of time at very high temperatures. In contrast, the batch frying process cooks thicker potato slices or other root vegetables for a longer period of time at lower temperatures, producing high quality chips that are crunchier and darker in appearance. In both continuous and batch frying, maintaining precise temperature control is key for perfecting the cooking process. It is therefore important to identify the optimum product attributes from the outset so that food processing systems can be customized to fulfil these pre-determined requirements. In addition, the desired production rate must be established to determine the appropriate fryer size and type. Typically, batch frying systems can handle capacities of up to 272 kilograms per hour. However, the batch-by-batch nature of the process can limit product throughput efficiency. In order to overcome this challenge, installing two or more machines in the process can help food manufacturers to maintain a continuous flow of production. www.meatpacking.info

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oil management

il is one of the most important food processing ingredients on the production line, and one of the most expensive. As such, any steps processors can take to reduce loss or wastage of oil can make a significant difference to profitability. Optimizing oil life is an essential part of this process and well-designed frying systems should address a variety of needs, including maintaining oil integrity. When frying battered or breaded products, cooking oil can quickly degrade due to the fragile coating breaking away from the product. The debris left in the fryer can burn and carbonize, contributing to oil degradation. This not only damages the quality of the oil but also disrupts cooking efficiency, makes it harder to clean the fryer and ultimately compromises product quality in terms of taste, appearance and shelf life. Frying with degraded oil can also trigger serious health-related side effects caused by the increased levels of fatty acids, oxidized lipids and acrylamides in the end product. To maintain oil quality, the excess particles left behind from coated or sliced products need to be removed from the oil via a filtration system. If these pieces remain in the oil, they will not only reduce oil quality, but also have a significant impact on fryer efficiency. Oil pick-up and oil turnover are additional considerations when it comes to oil management. In most frying operations the free fatty acid level of the cooking oil will rise to an unacceptable level if the total volume of oil in

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the system cannot be turned over within a set amount of time. Turnover occurs by the pick-up of oil into the products as they pass through the fryer. Depending on their physical characteristics, most products absorb oil during the initial stages of frying, lowering optimum oil levels. Potato slices for example, take on 23 percent of the oil, meaning 77 percent remains after frying â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this oil must be replenished with fresh oil to return levels to 100 percent. Efficient oil turnover via fresh oil infeed is therefore critical to maintain low free fatty acid levels and optimum oil volume. The most innovative frying technology incorporates continuous filtration systems to help remove particulate material from the fryer during cooking. Typically, the oil is passed through a filtration system to remove both large and fine particles. The filtered oil is then blended with fresh oil and pumped back into the machine to return oil levels to the optimum level. This ensures that the product is cooked in the freshest oil, assisting manufacturers to produce fried goods of the highest possible quality.

controls and monitoring

esigning processing systems with integrated controls and monitoring solutions from the outset puts efficiency at the core of operations. Across the entire food industry,

May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 43

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HEAT AND CONTROL

production lines have become increasingly complex with more and more components integrated into the same network to increase output. An effective control system is key to ensuring that the production line remains simple to use and that movement between each area is seamless. Re-tuning these control systems for specific cooking and frying applications, recipes and products enhances efficiency further. Good control systems gather information from the entire line and store it in a central database, allowing plant managers to monitor any unusual activities, pinpoint their location and react quickly and efficiently should an incident occur. This reduces the risk of production flow interruptions and gives operators an enhanced level of control over the quality of the final product. Some frying systems are fully compatible with the plants controls and integration technology, such as programmable logic controllers (PLC) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), which help to expose inefficiencies across the entire production line. These systems monitor temperature control to ensure accurate heat regulation during the cooking and frying process. Again, with some systems, conveyor drive motors are fully adjustable from a single point to allow greater flexibility in cooking time and product type and processors are able to gauge oil levels and product output precisely. This data can be used to improve transparency throughout production and inform the management of changes to improve performance.

maximizing sustainability

44 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: Heat and Control's breaded products fryer

nvironmental concerns continue to grow in importance and, as consumers increasingly demand the highest environmental credentials from the products they purchase, food processing specialists are stepping up to help manufacturers in pursuit of greener operations. With rapidly increasing energy prices, keeping energy costs low is essential when trying to achieve a more efficient and sustainable production process. Green credentials must be balanced with manufacturersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs to increase overall output, profitability and quality of finished products. While frying remains one of the fastest heat transfer methods available for cooking, efficient design of heating elements can make a significant contribution towards reducing production costs and physical footprint, without compromising product throughput and quality. In addition, the amount of tubing inside the fryer determines the fryerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall size. As such, the less tubing required, the smaller the space and the smaller the volume of oil required to be heated, decreasing costs in terms of raw material and reducing machine footprint.

food safety

here is increased pressure on manufacturers to prevent food contamination, as contaminated raw materials and crosscontamination during production are common sources of food borne illnesses in food processing plants. Hygienic design of machinery and equipment is the basis for safe food production. Food can, for example, easily become trapped in mechanical joints, compromising hygiene. A simple design with smooth surfaces, no blind spots and no areas, such as corners in which product and microorganisms build up, can help food manufacturers adhere to increasingly strict food safety requirements. Better systems are manufactured from food grade stainless steel, making it easy to clean and capable of withstanding the impact of a high volume of hot oils and fats during processing. Moreover, all good frying systems should be designed so that any water or cleaning fluids completely drain out of the system, following the same path as the oil, leaving no area untouched. The removal of water from a fryer is critical for oil integrity, as well as for user safety. By specifying easy-to-clean systems from leading suppliers, food processors can significantly reduce the risk of bacterial growth or crosscontamination. Regular system maintenance is important www.meatpacking.info

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in the food industry to ensure processes run smoothly and effectively. All equipment needs to be checked and cleaned on a regular basis to provide the highest level of food safety to protect both the consumer and a manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation. Scheduled maintenance is important to avoid unscheduled repairs that can have serious consequences on line efficiency and plant profitability. Both the design and material of frying systems are important factors and can help facilitate maintenance and minimize plant downtime. Many providers offer systems in which major mechanical components such as drive motors and bearings are easily accessible and can be quickly removed or replaced with readily available spare parts, for minimal downtime and an uninterrupted production flow. Furthermore, stainless steel construction throughout the fryer ensures longer component life. An effective control and monitoring system should be put in place to monitor motor currents and give advance notice of failure, effectively eliminating unscheduled downtime.

after-sales support

or high value equipment like fryers, the relationship between plant operator and machinery supplier should not end once the system has been installed. Working with equipment suppliers

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who offer a comprehensive after-sales service, no matter what the location, language or time zone, is vital to ensure that the system runs efficiently to its agreed specification. Ensuring your supplier has local sourcing of all spare parts is equally important. Should part of your system require maintenance, quick local access to spare parts is paramount to maintaining the productivity of the entire production line.

after-sales support

rying is one of the most effective heat transfer methods available for delivering unique flavors and enhanced product appearance, through color development and surface texture, across a wide variety of applications. However, fried goods vary greatly depending on the type of product, and so too do their desired product attributes. As a result, effective cooking and frying systems are vital to help manufacturers respond to increasingly discerning consumer demands. As well as providing flavor and texture to create a desirable end product with real consumer appeal, they can also help facilitate increased flexibility to ensure a smooth production process, help manufacturers to meet stringent food safety and hygiene regulations and maximize yield to ultimately help grow sales and increase profits.

May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 45

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all images: gea

reduced labour in coatings

EA of Germany says that its MultiDrum coater can authentically recreate ‘homestyle’ crispy coating on an industrial scale, while reducing manual labor by 80 percent and creating a less dusty environment on

the processing line. MPJ saw the MultiDrum at this year’s IPPE in Atlanta where it drew considerable interest from those looking for a way to increase their line of value-added products. The coater won a FoodTec Gold Medal during Anuga FoodTec 2015. Typical homestyle (or Southern style) breaded coating looks homemade, and with its very coarse crunchy texture, it has the appearance of a coral reef. Familiar for many years in quickservice restaurants (QSRs), where it is created by hand, it is gaining popularity as consumer ‘heat and eat’ products sold in supermarkets. An authentic golden coating adds real value to bone-in like drums, wings, legs, thighs and 8-piece chicken and boneless products like tenders, fillets and chicken popcorn as well as formed products like nuggets. With a flatbed breader, full coating coverage is difficult and the appearance is non-authentic, says GEA. It is possible to use a seeded flour on a flatbed to get a coating that starts to resemble homestyle, but the eating experience is totally different. Using flip-style application of flour 46 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: and below GEA's MultiDrum coater

looks slightly better, but this is not an efficient process. A conventional single drum breader gets close to the right look, particularly with a double pass, but has inherent process drawbacks and very high labor costs. To overcome these obstacles, GEA has developed a homestyle breader with multiple drums. The concept splits the product stream, and feeds the products evenly into multiple drums. The products leave the drums evenly spread across the belt, claims GEA. The company says that its MultiDrum coater delivers consistent coating quality with homestyle look, taste and bite. The pick-up percentage is controllable, and the machine requires considerably less space than a singledrum breader and associated spreading belts. The design is claimed to be easy to clean, and due to GEA OptiAir technology, the amount of dust in the work environment is greatly reduced. The GEA MultiDrum is available in a three-drum configuration (1000 mm wide – about 40 in.) and a twin-drum configuration (600 mm wide – about 24 in).

www.meatpacking.info

Lower costs higher yields better quality Marel introduces, DeboFlex, a groundbreaking new way of de-boning and handling pork fore-ends. The DeboFlex system is in-line and uses an overhead conveyor and specially designed carriers to transport fore-ends past operators who carry out individual deskinning, defatting, de-boning and dividing operations.

Increases “knife in meat” time No heavy lifting Focus on specific process tasks Improved food safety; longer shelf life Better factory floor logistics

marel.com

“

The efficiency in the production hall has risen, the transport of products has become simpler and the cutting process has become easier.

”

Production Manager, Menno van der Post at Compaxo Meat Ltd

p o rk

betting the boom The business saying ‘Buy the rumor and sell the fact’ could describe perfectly 2014’s pork market. Despite a hundred things or more which should have made it one of the worse years on record for the US and world pork industry, it did surprisingly well in the US due to consumers willing to pay record prices for pork – thanks in part to a shortage of beef. While MPJ doesn’t see another yearly average price of a record $76.00 per hundred weight in the USA, volume will balance out lower prices and 2015 will be the year to remember – hopefully for the right reasons.

48 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

www.meatpacking.info

p o rk

ork is a funny old thing in the United States. With it, all of the nation’s dichotomies come out to play – and it is one messy playground. Your age; economic sphere; education; religion; and even whether you live in a coastal state, the South, or in the Midwest affects how you eat – or don’t eat – pork. At times, people in the US seem almost afraid to use the word. Go to a US Mexicanstyle restaurant and you can choose between a bean, chicken, beef, or carnitas (cooked pork) burrito. Restaurants seldom call baby back ribs ‘pork baby back ribs’, bacon seems to come from a magical animal, and even the National Pork Council for nearly 25 years referred to pork as ‘The Other White Meat.’ Granted, it was a hugely successful ad campaign, but at the same time the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association launched a campaign of their own entitled: ‘Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner’. While the grammar might not be the best, there is no question what animal they’re talking about there. Ah, but if name-calling was pork’s only problem. The animal rights issue surrounding sow gestation cages is a massively heated topic on the East and West coasts; while in Iowa – where pork is a billion dollar industry – it’s becoming a political issue. Presidential candidates, on their first whistle stop of a long election process, try to show they’re one with Midwest famers by claiming support of gestation cages. It’s doubtful though any can tell the difference between a cage and a tractor. Last year more than half of the US pig breeding herd was infected with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) causing the death of millions of baby pigs. Pork supplies took a nose dive and this drove up the price in the USA to record levels. For those making it to market and hoping their product would be exported to Japan, Korea, or China, the fun was just beginning in 2014. A West Coast port strike – only recently resolved – left tons and tons of pork on the pier while in Asia, irate customers waited impatiently www.meatpacking.info

for it to get resolved, while all while looking for new pork sources. Other export markets faced closures. But even with all of this happening, a recent survey conducted by the National Pork Board found that US pork producers are actually “greatly optimistic” about the state of the industry, with 83 percent of the big players – 20,000 pig or more – feeling the industry is going in the right direction. Right direction? It’s enough to make you feel like you’re standing on the bridge of the Titanic, shouting iceberg ahead, and no one is listening to you. But relax, have another piece of bacon, and think about this; 2015 has the strong potential of being an amazing year for pork production in the USA. Farmers, processors, exporters, and American consumers should all have a year to celebrate, along with international companies which help support the pork processing industry. As long as production figures don’t explode, the market should not implode.

US PRODUCTION TO BOOM

here are a lot of ‘ifs’ this year in the US pork industry. If production doesn’t go overboard; if beef prices remain high; if feed prices continue to drop; if fuel prices remain low; and if consumers are still willing to pay a high price for pork, then the US pork industry will be full of happy folks. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees when it comes to ‘ifs’ in life. Throughout all of last year, the US pig industry was hit hard by the impact of PEDv virus which first started affected pig herds in the States in 2013. By December of 2014, it had rapidly spread to 32 states, killing somewhere between 4-5 million piglets. Farmers held back the number of pigs slaughtered by around 5 million, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and those that were slaughtered were fed longer to increase their weight. Bigger hind quarters meant a reduction by 10 million in the more popular 7 lb. spiral ham leaving these in short supplies for the holidays. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 49

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top pork producing countries 300

2 3

Turkey

250

Broiler

200

Pork

150

Beef

100

Year

50 0

1985

1995

2005

2013

Others

1. China 55,620 2. EU-27 22,390 3. US 10,530 4. Brazil 3,280 5. Russia 2,400 Brazil China

Canada

With fewer pigs, there was less demand for feed and the price dropped. This left EU-27 any farmer who had been able to avoid the highly US infectious PEDv getting higher prices for pork than ever before. “2014 was a fantastic year of growth for the pork industry. Overall, there was less pork to sell due to the impact of PEDv. So growth in Pork the second half of the year came largely from higher pork prices,” says Dale Norton,Mutton a Bronson, & Goat Mich., pig farmer and president of the National Beef Pork Board. “Pork expenditures directly correlate to consumer demand. Despite record Poultry high prices, demand grew and was even higher than

Consumption

Spend

Production

300 22.5 22.0 21.5

Broiler

200

Pork

150

Beef

21.0

100

20.5

20.0

Turkey

250

Year

Consumption in kg

23.0

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

1985

1995

2005

2013

Production in million lbs

expected.” Pork expenditures – the product of total pork volume available in the US multiplied by the average USDA retail pork price – grew by 7.6 percent in 2014 from the previous year. What almost seems mind boggling, during this period of pork shortage, US pork exports went up 10 percent in 2014 to $6.67 billion. Other During 2014, more than 100 countries around US the world imported US pork. The top five markets in total pounds ofEU-27 pork exported were: Mexico (1.501 billion pounds), China Japan (1.033 billion lbs.), China and Hong Kong (743.6 million lbs.), Canada (457.2 million lbs.)

25000 20000 15000 10000

1985

1995

2005

2013

00 tonnes

1400 1380 50 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015 1360

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and Korea (298.5 million lbs.). The top five markets in total value exported were: Japan ($1.932 billion), Mexico ($1.558 billion), Canada ($904.7 million) China and Hong Kong ($775.4 million) and Korea ($444.6 million). Towards the end of 2014, any farmer looking at the situation would have to think now is the time to expand herd size and this is exactly what they have been doing. March 2015 herd figures are higher than that for March 2013 – before the PEDv outbreak began. Productivity has improved and the litter size in the latest quarter was the largest on record for the time of year. But, will this boom in production lead to a bust in prices? MPJ doesn’t think so. Feed prices are expected to remain low in 2015, which will help in reducing production costs, and beef production, which fell by 6 percent last year and is expected to fall another 2-3 percent, will remain low with high prices. USDA forecasts that in the US, pork production could overtake beef production for the first time ever this year. For consumers who are tired of chicken and even more tired of paying high prices for beef, pork will be the best answer. Demand should absorb production and should also keep prices fairly high – but not as high as last year’s.

canada sees the big picture...

n Ontario based livestock market analyst says despite challenges, the big picture for the Canadian pork industry is positive for 2015, reports the Saskatchewan Pork and Manitoba Pork Council. Kevin Grier, an Ontario based livestock market analyst, says the Canadian pork industry has maintained its share of the global market for pork at 15 to 20 percent in spite of strong competition from the US and Europe and, despite relatively stable production, has managed to grow exports. Although Canada ranks as about the world's sixth largest pork producer, it's the third largest pork exporter, selling about 60 percent of its production internationally. “I think the data gathered by independent sources around the world have shown that Canada at the production level is a very competitive production area globally,” says Grier. “We rank among the least cost and so from a productions perspective Canada is a very competitive nation. I think where we start to run into some problems is at the processing level.” According to Grier, Canada’s costs are not quite as low as the American, “Our margins aren't quite as good as the American margins www.meatpacking.info

and we don't get as much value from our byproducts as the Americans do.”

...and uncertainty

estern Canadian hog farmers are facing an uncertain future from a marketing perspective heading into 2015, with a number of factors on both the supply and demand sides of the equation that could swing prices one way or the other, report industry experts for Agriculture Canada. “After a very profitable 2014… we’re at pivot point,” said Tyler Fulton, director of risk management with Hams Marketing Services. The PEDv and the resulting decline in hog supplies in North America, was behind much of the strength over the past year, he says. Fulton says there was talk in the industry about growth in the US breeding herd, with upward of 100,000 more sows coming on stream within the next year. Together with productivity gains that haven’t been detected due to losses from PED, Fulton said there was solid evidence suggesting there will be a significant increase in the hog supply by midsummer 2015. On the demand side, the beneficial effect of extremely high beef prices has favored pork over the past 10 months, said Fulton. However, the beef market has declined recently and if that decline in beef continues, it would weigh on the pork sector as well. Also on the demand front, the US economy is looking relatively strong and consumers will conceivably have more disposable income given the latest weakness in crude oil. Fulton said both factors would be supportive for demand for red meat. The weaker Canadian dollar was another favorable factor for Canadian hog producers. Currently it stands at US$1.00 to CA$1.2566 All of these things, independently, are big features, and could create price swings of up to 15 per cent by themselves, said Fulton. “If everything aligned, we could be looking at really volatile markets with 30 to 40 per cent price moves,” he says, adding, “It could go both ways – it could go higher or lower.”

eu glad to see 2015

roducers in Europe are looking at last year as one to forget and only hoping this year will be better for pork. A sharp drop in EU exports – thanks to the Russian ban – and increased supply on the May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 51

Others China

p o rk

Brazil Canada EU-27 US

Pork

Others

Mutton & Goat

China

Beef

Brazil

Poultry

Canada EU-27 US

Consumption in kg

23.0

Pork

22.5 22.0

Mutton & Goat

21.5

Beef

21.0

Poultry

20.5 20.0

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

1380

23.0 136022.5

Consumption in kg

Imports in ‘000 tonnes

1400

22.0

1340

21.5

132021.0

20.5

1300

20.0 2012 2013 2014 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Production/consumption in ‘000 tonnes

china imports 23000 21400 19800 18200 16600 15000

Production

Consumption

EU Production vs consumption 52 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

domestic market drove prices down below their 2007-11 average. Indeed, EU prices pork prices have plunged from September 2013 and the weakening euro means the price fall has even felt sharper to farmers and processors. Production developments in Europe’s main hog producers have been different from country to country; increases took place in Spain (3.7%), Portugal (4.1%), the United Kingdom (3.5%) and the Netherlands (5.3%), declines in Germany (-0.8% ) and Italy (-2.0%) while production in France and Denmark remained stable. Despite the appearance of African Swine Fever (ASF) at the beginning of 2014, the production increase in Poland has been particularly strong (almost nine percent) and, together with an increase by more than 10 percent in Hungary and Romania, it brought EU-N13 total net production to around 3.5 million metric tons, or a rise of 5.4 percent on a yearly basis. Forecasters, which are predicting a better year, are basing much of this on an assumption that the one-year Russian import ban will end in August. MPJ though believes this is far from being a certainty and with no lasting resolution happening in the Ukraine, it’s hard to see the ban ending. www.meatpacking.info

200

Pork

150

Beef

Brazil Canada

100

EU-27

p o rk

Year

50 0

1985

1995

2005

2013

China

Other

Pork

Brazil

Mutton & Goat

Canada

EU-27

Beef

EU-27

China

Poultry

Consumption in kg

2 Others

Big eaters

global Species balance

Pork

fter just four years after it opened its doors to pork imports from the UK, China is set to become the top 23.0 importer of British pork – or at least 22.5 of the hog. parts 22.0 Chinese demand for pork offal – internal organs 21.5 – is also good news for UK pork producers as there's little demand for these 21.0 25000 products at home, according to England’s pork 20.5 levy board, BPEX. 20.0 20000 Although China is home to half the world's 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 pigs, it still imported 564,000 metric tons of 15000 pork – equivalent to about two-thirds of Britain's production – and 814,000 metric tons of offal last year. 1400 10000 "Chinese like two things," says Mick Sloyan, 1985 1995 2005 2013 director of BPEX. "One is they quite like strong 1380 taste when it comes to meat … and they love stuff with bones in so they can chew on." 1360 Pork exports from the UK to China have more than doubled to 65,000 metric tons between 1340 2012 and 2014, while exports to Germany – the number one destination for British pork for the 1320 last three years – has fallen about 5 percent. Privately owned Karro Food Group Ltd, one 1300 of the three producers 2014 with a permit 2012 UK pork 2013 to supply to China, plans to raise exports by 80 percent this year. Cranswick Plc and Tulip Ltd are also boosting shipments to the world's No. 1 pork consumer. "(China is) where the majority of our (export) growth comes from," said Adam Couch, Cranswick's chief executive. China's demand for parts of the pig that Britons refuse to eat is helping British companies earn better margins on meat and parts that were

Production in million lbs Consumption in kg Imports in ‘000 tonnes

China

www.meatpacking.info

20000 15000 10000

previously thrown away or used in low-margin 23.0 products such as pet food. "It can be22.5 very broad, ranging from the head 22.0 shoulders. They do make a great to feet to even utilization of21.5 the carcass than you wouldn't find in a lot of other 21.0 countries," says Couch. If the pound remains strong against the 20.5 ever decreasing euro, British farmers might be 20.0 a market in China, if cheaper glad they have 1995 2005 2013 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 European imports start pouring in. As for right now, UK supermarkets are committed to sourcing British pork, but will it continue? Consumption in kg

Uk helped EU-27 by china

25000

1985

1400

french double whammy

F Imports in ‘000 tonnes

Production in million lbs

Mutton & Goat

But, a strong EU pork market is also based on a weak Euro against a strong USBeef dollar and in this MPJ sees no change, due to Poultry the ongoing Greek crisis and high unemployment across Italy, Other Spain, and France.

1380

rench pig producers are still 1360 suffering from the Russian trade embargo, with its agriculture minister 1340 announcing that emergency measures designed to resuscitate the industry are in place. 1320 These measures consist of a multi-million euro relief fund, banks being asked to offer 1300 more favorable rates to 2012 for farmers 2013who have 2014 renegotiate loans, and private long-term freezing of French pork to reduce and control supply to the market, along with helping to raise prices. An even more worrying trend, however, is developing in Brittany, France. In a story first reported by Rudd Peys in Pig Progress, feed companies in the area are having to give financial support to their main customers. According to Peys, feed producers offered some €60 million to farmers in the shape of allowing late payments, forgiving non-payment of invoices, or direct support for investment. In other protein industries this measure, while stopgap, seldom has lead to an advantageous solution. In Greece’s sea bass and sea bream industry, feed companies found themselves in the position of having to either continue to supple feed in the very off-chance of someday being paid, writing off debts, or finding themselves owning fish farms. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 53

Imports in ‘000 tonnes

Big exporters

1400 1380 1360 1340 1320 1300

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mpj

Pig farm ready to leap

ergus Howie, managing director of Wicks Manor Farm, takes you into his parent’s farmhouse, to the large dining room where he likes to talk to clients and visitors. This part of the house dates back around 500 years, to when Henry VIII was on the throne. It still has the original rough wooden beams cutting across its low ceiling – one beam even has the carved initials of the carpenter who originally built it. With the smell of smoke from a fireplace subtly in the background, it’s easy to believe that not much has changed in this part of Essex – due east of London by the North Sea 54 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: Wicks Manor Farm is known in eastern England for its humane treatment of it pigs. Feed, made of wheat and barely is grown by Wicks Manor on 3,500 acrces of farmland.

– since the house was built. But while Wicks Manor has one foot firmly placed in traditional British farming values, the other foot is placed in the future. Wicks Manor is getting ready for expansion – on its own terms. Wicks Manor is vertical integrated hog farm, doing all steps from farming grain for feed, breeding, rearing, processing, to marketing pork, with everything done by Wicks Manor except for the actual slaughtering. Around 2,600 pigs are at the farm in Tolleshunt Major, with another 1,200 pigs at a fattening farm. This will be expanded by year’s end with a 50% increase in the number of pigs being fattened. Every Thursday pigs are born at the farm, with slaughtering taking place on Monday and www.meatpacking.info

p o rk

www.meatpacking.info

Below: Fergus Howie, managing director of Wicks Manor Farm

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Friday at a local abattoir. “We slaughter around 200 pigs a week, with a live weight of 110 kilos and a slaughtered weight of 85 kg,” says Fergus Howie, adding that the pigs are brought back as half-carcases. “We use an outside abattoir because our numbers don’t justify the cost of running our own." Sows and piglets are kept in open air, highwelfare straw pens, which not only makes it more humane for the pigs, but it make it easy for buyers to see how the animals are reared. Wicks Manor Farm is part of the UK’s Red Tractor food assurance scheme which covers production standards developed by experts on safety, hygiene, animal welfare, and the environment among other things. While some UK newspapers treat the Red Tractor scheme with a dose of cynicism, its logo on a pack means that product has met these responsible production standards and is fully traceable back to independently inspected farms in the UK. These standards are higher than in any other EU member state. Fergus’ younger brother Hamish is responsible for feed production and his five-man team raise wheat and barley on 3,500 acres of nearby land. Because of the difficulties in managing an organic plan when using a combination of leased fields along with family owned, the feed is not organic and the two brothers have no intentions of trying to turn the operation organic. As much as possible, everything on the hog farm and fields is recycled. Left-over straw from the harvested grains is used to line the open-air pig enclosures. Soiled straw is returned to the fields to be used as fertilizer. While in the USA pork is oftentimes treated as just another red meat and cuts as pork chops, meaty ribs, and roasts are extremely popular, Howie says that in the UK value-added pork products bring in more revenue. This is reflected in Wick’s Manor processing room which has the lion’s share of the farm’s 45 employees working in it. Current equipment – which is due to change during this year’s expansion work – consists of a Thompson mincer, Riser sausage filler with grinder, and a Multivac sealer on the bacon line. “They say ‘little business become big’ and that’s what we’re experiencing. When we set up this processing line, it seemed like we had so much room but look at us now,” he says, pointing over to the sausage line where it’s elbows-to-elbows to keep up with production demands.

May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 55

*2011

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The processing plant will be expanded by about a third and the production line streamlined with new equipment. He says with the right layout and equipment, they will be able to process 100 percent more with little expansion in staff. “With labor we’ve been lucky as we never have had much of a turnover,” says Howie. What Wicks Manor has done – like many farms in the UK – is to fill labor shortages with Polish workers who have been coming to the UK for better paying jobs ever since Poland because part of the EU in 2004. For the most part this work force is not transient and treats the move to the UK as permanent. This has been a huge help to farms and meat/poultry processing plants which have difficulties in attracting UK workers for these positions. “Poles make up 40 percent of our work force and they have a great work ethic and attitude which rubs off on other employees,” says Howie. Wicks Manor does butcher cuts for chops and roasts which go mostly to the restaurant trade; for sale in stores it’s various types of sausages, bacon, and ham. “We can make £3 a kilo for loins or £12 a kg for pulled pork. Value-added is a course what we try to do the most,” says Howie. Among their products are bacons that are smoked with a blend of oak and beech woodchips and dry-cured by hand with a blend of curing salts and Demerara sugar. Sausages are made with hand-boned shoulder, have no added-fat, and are filled into natural 56 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: Wicks Manor butchers preparing pork loins.

skins. The most popular flavor of sausages is Traditional English (herb) and pork & apple. They’ve experimented with jalapeno sausages and while buyers like its idea, these sausages appeal mostly to men. With women doing the majority of food shopping, there is a ratio of 9 to 1 between sales of Traditional sausage as opposed to jalapeno. One of their most delicious products is a pork mince (ground) burger made with apple. This product was a big hit at the recent International Food & Drinks Exhibition in London, and when MPJ was at the farm there was none in stock. Wick Manor hams show a light touch when it comes to smoke flavor and this allows them to bring out the full flavor of the pork intead of masking it. Unlike some hams which seem to be mostly brine and other injected fluids, Wick’s Manor hams are very meaty and it was impossible with a fork to squeeze any moisture out of a slice; when fried the slices do not shrink. In addition, with less brine used, there was no sensation of having a sodium overload, which too many hams and cooked gammon slices have. A fully-cooked foot-long sausage is made at the farm which is being sold at three Premier football clubs and at the UK national stadium. It’s made a foot long so that two inches hang out on either side of the eight-inch bun. Howie is expecting big things from Wick’s Manor new pulled-pork line. “When you go to a fair or festival, the big food draw is a whole roast hog. People queue around the street for a pulled-pork sandwich.” www.meatpacking.info

p o rk

Separated by a common language

In keeping with this experience, the pulledpork it comes sealed in a microwave package with either a sage/apple/onion or a barbecue flavor sauce. Howie says that when Wicks Manor first started making pulled-pork they were shredding the pork by hand which was extremely labor intensive. Since then they’ve bought a Cove SH-5 shredder which is making a big difference in their ability to produce pulled-pork. The high quality and great taste of their pork has been nationally recognized and awarded; in 2008 Wicks Manor not only received the Pig & Poultry Marketing ‘Cut Above Meat Quality’ award, but the ‘Sausage Producer of the Year’ award sponsored by upmarket shopping chain Marks & Spencer. Wicks Manor won Britain Best Sausage at the UK Meat Industry Awards in 2013; the award winning sausage was the Farmers Choice - Gluten Free. The farm was also this year a nominated finalist in the glitzy UK pig and poultry processing awards for Exporter of the Year.

building the foundations

owie says that he always figured he’d be working on the family farm raising hogs but, when he started after university in the 1990s, he hadn’t imagined what problems he would almost immediately face. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), www.meatpacking.info

tandard American Bacon is identified by the USDA as “the cured belly of the swine,” a combination of meat and fat from the belly of the pig which gives it the streaky look. American bacon has a higher water and fat content than English bacon and shrinks more while cooking. English Bacon is cut from the loin back of the pig, similar to that of Canadian bacon, but with the added fat surrounding the meat. English bacon is often smoked or cured, again similar to that of Canadian, but to a greater extent. Bacon in the UK also comes in a form similar to American, but is called ‘streaky bacon’, it’s seldom on a breakfast plate and is used instead to cover and self-baste turkeys. Difference between gammon and ham: Both ham and gammon are meat from the pork coming from hind legs of the pig, but the difference lies in curing and treatment. Gammon is sold raw, and needs to be cooked before eating. Ham is sold cured and cooked. Gammon, after it has been cooked, is nothing but ham. Gammon is traditionally been associated with British Christmas festivities; it’s not very common in the USA.

commonly known as mad cow disease, made its appearance during this time and sent shock waves throughout the British farming community. The UK beef industry lost credibility around the world and in Britain itself. While it would seem that this would have benefited the British pork industry, it did the opposite. Meat import restrictions were loosened and British hog farmers found it difficult to compete against cheaper imports. “Before 1997 the pork industry in the UK was hugely cyclical; there were downs but also ups,” says Howie. “But after BSE, it went down and stayed there, we couldn’t compete against cheaper imports.” The family had to weigh up their options; May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 57

mpj

p o rk

there was a real possibility that the farm would have to be sold. “We thought about what we wanted to do, we knew we had a hard choice. But the farm has a pulse, it has a life, we didn’t want to close it.” Howie decided that what they had to do was to cut out middlemen as much as possible in all parts of production, including marketing. At the end of the day, Howie and his brother understood what made their operation unique better than anyone else could. “We’re proud of how are pigs are raised and the product we produce, we needed to get that word out there,” he says. In looking at the farm’s marketing foundation, what it always had was a reputation in Essex/East Anglia for producing high quality pork products. Although the big supermarket chains in the UK have their own brands, along with national brands, there has been an increase move in these stores to showcase local producers as well. Indeed, even with vegetables there is often times a mention of the farm where the cabbage or broccoli came from. “We’ve been able to sell our products locally in Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, and Co-op stores,” says Howie. “In East Anglia people see our brand and know who we are.” But, as he says, this is where the challenge lies in their future growth. “You go to our local Tesco, you see Wicks Manor products, and you know who we are and what we represent. But in Manchester? [located in northwest England]. Nobody knows who we are there. We need to be able to convince the buyer there and elsewhere in the UK that when they see a pork product with our name on it, they will know they’re buying quality.” But Wicks Manor is not just thinking about the UK market. In a completely different 58 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

Above: (L) Making foot long sausages with a Riser sausage filler. The sausages are sealed and then fully cooked. (R) Pork lions which will be used for bacon.

approach, Howie has been able to get Wicks Manor pork to an international crowd. “One thing that struck me was that Britishstyle bacon was one of the things that Brits always longed for when they went away. Nobody does bacon the way that we do.” Howie started thinking that targeting the British expat community would make good business sense; they have the strong association with British pork and because many are on expat salaries, they have a high income which would allow them to afford imported British pork. You have to respect Howie for his chutzpah. It makes about as much sense to describe a pork producer with a good Yiddish/Jewish word meaning ‘cheek’ or ‘audacity’, as to where he first decided to try out this plan – the Muslim city of Dubai. However, he was successful there and has since also targeted expat communities in Hong Kong, Brunei, Singapore, and Bermuda as well. Each though has proved to be challenging – but also offering additional opportunities. Howie describes the absolute crowds he experienced when he was in Hong Kong’s Sogo in Causeway Bay. “There was a sale going on and the amount of people trying to crowd into the store was staggering. I thought: ‘that’s where I have to sell Wicks Manor’.” While at first glance his idea of selling UK pork and ham to Hong Kong Chinese seems to make as much sense as selling ice to Eskimos, those who can afford it in Hong Kong see imported food of being of a higher quality than local. He’s found that the Chinese community in Hong Kong like the farm’s ham so that’s a market he’s pursuing. “Because of how we raise our pigs and the quality of our products, that’s our unique sell point, and it’s a huge one,” says Howie. www.meatpacking.info

p o rk

Steve Commes'

Country Ham

or those of you who have not been in the US south, despite the image you might have of old plantation houses, flowering magnolias, and long summer days, pork is the dominate feature. Every restaurant you past on country highways has a neon dancing pig sign; supermarkets have odd parts of butchered pigs that you’ll never want to see again; and even in service stations – tucked between fan belts hanging from the ceiling – are country hams waiting for a buyer. While for many visitors to the region, southern country ham brings back bad memories of overcooked, salty, slabs of pink flesh, swimming in red-eye gravy or stuffed between biscuits, Steve Commes demands you take a second look in his book Country Ham, published by American Palate/ History Press. Country Ham is a trip across the United States’ ‘ham belt’ where Commes visits the best country ham producers and learns what they’re doing right. He ends with a chapter on how you can produce a decent ham and then has a small recipe section. “You’d think that growing up in Kentucky, the heart of America’s country ham belt [an oblong collection of states including Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri] would have long ago acquainted me with good country ham, but the opposite is mostly true,” says Commes. “Not because of any lack of the good stuff, but because how poorly it’s commonly prepared: ruined from overcooking and never served like charcuterie.” In 2009 Commes wrote a story about Nancy Newson – owner and curer at Col. Bill Newsom’s Aged Kentucky Country Ham – travelling to Spain to present one of her hams at the Fifth World Congress of Ham. She attracted attention on several fronts: she was the first American artisan invited to bring a ham to the Congress and is one of the few women in a profession www.meatpacking.info

headed mostly by men. The Congress was so impressed by her and her ham that they asked Newson to leave a ham behind for display in their ham museum. Newson sent Commes a vacuum pack of her sliced ham as a way of thanks and Commes became sold on the potential of American country ham, discovering it can compare to the best Italian prosciutto, French charcuterie, or Spanish jamon. “The flavour [of Newson’s ham] was complex yet mild, plenty piggy and earthy,” he says. “It tasted like the animal it came from, not overprocessed and gummy like some country hams. It wasn’t the super-salty, shoe-leathery stuff I’d eaten as a kid. It was so tender it barely required chewing. Recalling it makes my mouth water.” While most review book copies are sent out gratis by the publisher, I bought Country Ham myself. While it is not as polished as some regional food books are, there is a sense of belief and honesty in Commes writing that rings true on every page. The only problem I have with the book is that it doesn’t come with a selection of country ham to sample while reading. Velo Mitrovich

Country Ham: a southern tradition of hogs, salt & smoke, by Steve Commes 160 pp. History Press. $20.00 May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 59

wo rk er

s a f e t y

300k hours accident free

hen you talk to anyone at Rudolph Foods about how many hours they’ve gone accident free, there is always a slight pause. It’s not because they’re trying to make up some figure; no, it’s because they have to put in the latest hours. The company is now at the point – 300,000 hours – where it would be faster to use a calculator to add it all up. You might be thinking of discounting this accomplish, after all, Rudolph Foods makes snacks – pork rinds of all things. How difficult can that be? Plenty, if you speak to Gary Burns who is in charge of day to day operations. He knows how it was before Rudolph Foods made a radical change to how they went about treating employee safety. Rudolph Foods has been around for 60 years and has seven facilities in the USA, three international ventures, and 450 total employees. This makes the Ohio-based company the world’s largest producer of pork rind and ‘cracklin’ snacks, a fact the company and its employees take pride in. The process of making pork rinds, while not technically difficult, is one where every step has the potential for injuries. The steps are: Raw Material Inspecting & Cutting: Pork skins are visually inspected before entering an automatic slicer. Drying & Smoke Curing: Pork skins are 60 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

slowly dried and cured while using hardwood smoke to impart a smoked bacon flavor. Rendering: The pork skins are then rendered to remove excess oil and create pellets ready for frying and seasoning. Pellet Sizing: The pellets are conveyed automatically through a separator where they are sorted and graded by size, then packaged in specially lined boxes. Packing & Shipping: Sealed boxes of pellets are labeled with bar codes and conveyed through a metal detection unit before shipping just-intime to food processors around the world. Frying the Pellets for Pork Rinds: To create finished pork rinds and cracklins, the pellets are transferred via conveyors into frying units where they literally ‘pop’ into crispy snacks. Seasoning: Still hot from the fryer, some of the pork rind snacks are conveyed to tumblers where they are coated with seasoning blends to create special flavors. Packaging: In an automated packaging area, bags are formed and filled with carefully measured quantities of finished snacks, then boxed for shipping to customers. Burns is the first to admit that for too long of time at Rudolph, employee safety training was treated as just something to check off a box to fulfill legal requirements. “We had HR [human resources] come in with a document, they read it, every employee then took a test and signed their names to indicate they had been trained in safety,” he says. “We filed it away and covered our asses for another year.” www.meatpacking.info

Rudolph foods

Everyone processing plant wants it: employees who are safe; employees who are willing to change; and most of all, employees who take on ownership of their own actions and those around them. But to achieve these goals it’s much easier said than done. However, a US pork skin company says it has found the key, reports Velo Mitrovich.

Wo rk er

Kimberly Arrick, an employee who has been at Rudolph for 20-years and works in the meat receiving department, says: “It was just someone reading to us. I wasn’t interested in what there was to learn.” However, unlike too many companies which are content to allow that to remain the status quo, Rudolph realized that what they were doing wasn’t fair to their employees or to the company itself. Rudolph takes pride in being family owned and for treating its employees as part of the family. “Our number one goal here at Rudolph is sending our employees home safe each day, just like when they came through the door,” says Burns. “We knew our injury rate was fairly high and Michele Gardener, our director of HR and safety, wanted to do something to reduce it.” www.meatpacking.info

Above: Pork rind manufacturer Rudolph Foods did a massive re-think how it went about worker safety.

s a f e t y

In addition, Rudolph wanted to be prepared for a Safe Quality Food audit.

safety certification

QF certification allows food safety and quality systems to be verified and validated throughout the food chain, increasing brand protection, consumer confidence and loyalty. SQF is recognized by retailers, foodservice providers and regulatory agencies around the world that require HACCP food safety and quality management systems by their suppliers. “We needed a food safety training and reporting system that would prepare us for SQF audits,” says Gardener. “Our paper-based system May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 61

s a f e t y

rudolph foods

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made it difficult to generate the reporting we would need. The sign-in sheets led to record keeping headaches.” In addition, as part of meeting SQF standards, Rudolph would need to show that classroom training was actually implemented on the production line, with supervisors observing front-line worker behavior and providing coaching as needed. The company looked at various interactive computer systems before deciding to use Alchemy Systems of Austin, Texas. “We looked at others but what attracted us to Alchemy was it was the most interactive. They took the time to understand our company, our production line, and the safety issues involved in it,” says Burns. “What they produced for us such as the videos, were very much real life. Besides showing best practices, they showed worse ones as well and what would happen if you didn’t follow procedures.” According to Burns, while line mangers were involved in it from the beginning, they were also the most skeptical and most reluctant about incorporating the system. The employees, however, were different. Rudolph uses Alchemy’s group-based training platform to keep workers engaged during training sessions. The platform includes handheld remotes that deliver an engaging and interactive learning experience. “The employees took to it from the beginning,” says Burns. “There is a fun competitive edge to it and using the remotes, 62 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

they have a ‘lightening round’ at the end with a prize.” What Burns speaks highly of is Alchemy’s Assistant Coach program, which works in tangent with the training program for frontline workers. This program allows supervisors to execute on-the-job observations or inspections for validating training efficacy. “The Coach program is amazing,” says Burns. “Because you’re working one-on-one with your employees, you really get to know them better.” “You’re building a relationship right there,” adds Arrick. “It’s getting to know their ideas better, and then taking their ideas and making sure they’re getting implemented,” says Burns. He adds that while some employees might not be as willing to speak up doing a classroom setting, they will with Coach. Burns says that almost immediately management noticed results after bringing in Alchemy. “It’s affected our bottom line positively. It makes employees feel ownership now; our labor rates have decreased 30 percent and we’ve reduced customer complaints by 11 percent,” he says. “Our employees are the ones now driving safety out there, they point out to each other when they see something wrong and they straighten us out as well. “We see Alchemy as a partner, they’ve made that big of difference,” says Burns. “The figure's don't lie." www.meatpacking.info

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AS CHINA GETS HUNGRY, INTERNATIONAL SUPPLIERS ARE SPOTTING THE OPPORTUNITIES IN BEEF

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from the ground up

ndustrial facilities of all kinds in the world are required to adhere to numerous government standards, and the food processing industry is certainly no exception. Because of the nature of the products they produce, food processing plants are under closer scrutiny by regulators than many other industries, writes W. Doni Riddle, former vice president, Industrial & Marine Marketing, The Sherwin-Williams Company. In warehouses and light industrial areas, and in industries not involved with consumable products, having uncoated concrete floors may be a perfectly acceptable choice. But in food and beverage plants, where cleanliness and purity are paramount, it is non-negotiable that concrete floors be covered with an appropriate protective coating, very often provided by seamless, hygienic floor coating system.

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rearl

Although too often put on as an afterthought, plant safety often begins with whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s below the workers shoes. Besides a bad fall or slip costing a plant in man-hours, it can also cost in legal fees. When hungry lawyers circling around like vultures looking for claimants, the money you spend on proper flooring might be some of the best you ever spent.

Above: X-ray of a broken tibia

The floor of a food processing facility is typically exposed to all sorts of food byproducts, including fats, hot oils, blood, sugar solutions, and natural food acids. Some of these substances can cause serious damage to concrete because of their corrosive nature. In addition, these contaminants can infiltrate uncoated concrete, resulting in uncontrolled growth of bacteria, ultimately degrading the processed foodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purity. Consequently, coatings selected for application to food and beverage processing facility floors must be durable enough and thick enough to create a protective barrier www.meatpacking.info

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that prevents contaminants from permeating the concrete substrate and ensures a hygienic surface.

coatings

hat is the big question plant operators and industrial maintenance managers must answer in order to meet government requirements and ensure a safe and sanitary processing facility. Processors of foodstuffs face demands for hygienic surfaces across a variety of plant areas, all with differing corrosive conditions, such as for dry storage areas, cold storage rooms, and mixing, canning and slaughtering areas. Floor coating systems have been developed to meet this range of service conditions, and frequently, there are a number of systems that can be used for an application. As a result, the type of floor coating used is one of the most important product specifications a food processing plant manager can make. For years, plant managers have come to rely on a range of specialty floor coating products to fulfill any number of requirements. These floor coatings are available in several formulations.

epoxies

poxies may be blended with aggregates such as marble or quartz, particularly for non-processing areas, such as lobbies and entryways, where a clean, well-maintained look is part of an overall plan regarding company image. These coatings are typically trowel-applied, two-component systems. A wide variety of textures and colors may be achieved by broadcasting aggregates to create non-slip or skid-resistant floors. High-solid epoxies provide outstanding protection against acids and alkalis. Fast-drying, odorless epoxy mastics, epoxy primer sealers and surfacers are among the formulations currently available. These coatings offer a number of key benefits including outstanding adhesion; an excellent ability to withstand abrasive cleaning procedures and cleaning chemicals; fast curing properties for minimized downtime of the area being treated; plus compatibility with textured, anti-slip additives. Additionally, highsolids formulations are low in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). A popular choice suitable even for cleanroom floors is a self-leveling epoxy system utilizing a 100% solids binder resin with a blended aggregate, which is easily applied with a notched trowel or squeegee and back rolled www.meatpacking.info

with a texture roller. The system comprises a penetrating primer, an epoxy resin glaze as the binder resin, a filler with dry silica sand as the slurry aggregate and a topcoat which may be a polyamide epoxy, a stipple epoxy, a high performance pigmented epoxy or a polyurethane enamel. When a rapid return to service is one of the paramount factors in order to minimize plant downtime, 100% solids epoxies are a wise choice for coating floors. Many operators of meat processing facilities select 100% epoxy coatings because these coatings offer strong bonding characteristics, resistance to thermal and mechanical shock, and the ability to endure frequent cleaning with hot water at high pressure. They also may be used in areas where highly acidic products are processed. For a greater amount of chemical and heat resistance, novolacs are a good choice. Novalac is a type of epoxy that has a higher aromatic structure which gives it these qualities. Epoxy novolacs also stand up to aggressive chemical contaminants like sulfuric acid and harsh cleaning solutions. In less demanding environments like food packaging, waterborne epoxies are a good fit since these areas don’t have the same high protection demands. In general, though, the use of waterborne epoxies for this industry is limited. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 65

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watershed post

be used add texture. But without a doubt, the most significant benefit offered by some mortar systems is their quick drying capabilities. With these products, plants can be returned to service in as little as six hours. However, slurries are not recommended for floors that are sloped to drain.

urethanes

olyurethane coatings continue to be popular for flooring applications in the food industry. These coatings typically come in slurry form and tend to be somewhat more costly up front, but their service life often outlasts other product categories. In fact, these systems are making significant gains on epoxy and vinyl ester flooring systems in many meat and poultry plants. Urethane cement slurry and mortar systems provide superior resistance to thermal cycling when compared to epoxy and vinyl ester coatings in addition to providing excellent longlasting performance. They also have very low odor during application and have a seamless, easy-to-clean surface when dry. Another advantage provided by these mortar systems are the decorative choices available. Depending on the manufacturer, customers can request colored quartz which can be broadcast into the slurry. The quartz is used in place of silica sand is sealed with a protective clear epoxy or urethane topcoat. Other aggregates can also

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Above: Slaughterhouse floors are slipperty from water and blood.

methyl methacrylate

MA coatings are also used for food and beverage facility floors because they can be applied at relatively low temperatures, cure quickly, and are low in odor, reducing the risk of imparting an unpleasant taste or odor to processed foodstuffs. As a result, MMA coatings are often used in cold-storage areas such as freezer rooms.Â

polyureas

hen environments demand tough, flexible and impact resistant floors, polyurea coatings are an excellent choice. There are 100% pure polyurea coatings available that are USDAacceptable and even UL-approved to the ANSINSF 61 Standard, so they are increasingly being used by for tanks holding potable water as well as floor coatings for food and beverage industry floors. Â All polyureas are formulated with no VOCs, www.meatpacking.info

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have no odor and dry tack free in as little as 45 seconds. These coatings are especially useful in food processing areas since they provide a seamless and flexible surface that can withstand temperatures as low as -20°F to 250°F. Because of their elasticity, polyurea coatings are ideal for substrates such as concrete, which tends to crack. As an elastomer, these coatings have the ability to stretch and bridge gaps up to 1/8-in. Due to this flexibility, polyurea coatings are not limited by temperature extremes. More rigid coatings tend to crack as the substrate expands or contracts because of differences in the coefficient of linear expansion.

which coating

eing armed with an understanding of these coatings and their capabilities is one part of selecting the right coating for the job, but there are other considerations as well, ranging from government regulations to food taste and odor considerations. Traffic: The volume and type of traffic is another important criterion in selecting a floor coating for a food processing facility. Personnel safety and potential liability issues compel food processing plant managers to ensure skidresistant floors by using textured or grit surfaces. The degree of texture is typically determined by the conditions of operation, frequency of cleaning and maintenance, and presence of oils, greases and other potentially slippery substances. A high-medium grade of texture for food processing makes sense since these environments are often “wet” either from cleaning agents or from the inherent exposure to oils and grease. Where high impact and heavy loads are part of the traffic pattern, a flexible membrane may be applied beneath the floor coating. Cleaning: Floors in food facilities must be thoroughly cleaned regularly, often several times daily, to keep the food processing operation pure and up to government standards. Consequently, food processing facility floor coatings must be durable enough to handle vigorous cleaning procedures, which typically include very hot water, steam, and aggressive cleaning chemicals. It is clear that only high-performance floor coatings will withstand this kind of punishing maintenance. On a typical day in a food processing facility, floors are exposed to a variety of process chemicals as well as corrosive cleaning chemicals, primarily detergents. If a floor is subjected to only minor chemical contact, a thin film coating may suffice; however, if a floor is exposed to the variety of moisture, temperature, and chemical www.meatpacking.info

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conditions typically found in a food processing area, it is essential that the plant manager select a thicker, more durable floor coating that can offer sufficient protection to meet those conditions. In addition to the corrosive nature of the cleaning chemicals, the very hot, high-pressure steam used in daily cleanings can take its toll on a food processing facility floor. The pressure alone is often capable of removing a standard coating, much like what happens when a deteriorating concrete driveway is pressure-washed. Because the cleaning process is performed repeatedly and at very high temperatures, it is crucial that the coating be thick and durable. Odors: A factor not always considered by food processing plant managers is the need to avoid the transference of unwelcome odors or tastes to food products. Some foreign substances give off odors or tastes that render final food products unacceptable. Water-borne coatings are significantly less likely to emit odors that might be absorbed, thus they are generally an excellent choice for floor applications in food processing facilities.

application and downtime

et another factor in selecting a floor coating for a food processing facility involves application conditions. While these issues are typically not relevant for installation of floors and coatings in new facilities, they are indeed germane when updating or retrofitting an existing facility. Food processing facilities are often very damp, sometimes cool or even cold, and sometimes hot, all in a typical day. The selected coating must be able to be installed under any and all of these conditions. There are specialty coatings that have the ability to cure even under this unusually broad range of conditions. Urethane modified cementitious flooring systems, for example, can perform in steam heat as well as freezing or below zero temperatures. Some of these systems also offer a rapid return to service which could be critical to plant operations. Until fairly recently, aesthetics were rarely a consideration in the selection of a floor coating, but times have changed. Some areas of food processing plants are often part of a public tour route, and in general, company management is more aware now of the need to convey a clean, colorful, positive image as part of company morale and wider public relations efforts. Consequently, one last factor in selecting a floor coating may be the palette of colors available from the chosen manufacturer. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 67

P r o duc t s

Product news

Tray logistics

Single line crust freezing A whole line completely dedicated to the portioning of fresh meat is now available in the UK and Ireland from Interfood Technology, following the introduction of TVI’s Total Concept. TVI’s new line offers crust freezing, slicing, portion control, shingling and tray dispensing, providing a solution for a wide range of fresh meats – beef, lamb, pork and turkey – for both bone-in and bone-less products as well as dicing, all on the same machine. The gripper-less press and slice system ensures excellent yield and reduced give-away, with figures typically less than 3% give-away for bone-in products and less than 2% on bone-less, says Interfood.

Marel says it TrayTrack system makes best use of automatic sealing/wrapping and labelling equipment, allowing tray packing, sealing, and labelling to be done in different areas. TrayTrack consists of an overhead conveyor with tray carriers, automatic tray loading and unloading stations, and electronic controls for programming and running the system. This matches filled trays as perfectly as possible to available tray/sealing wrapping equipment.

160K meatballs The new high volume Bridge Titan Meatball Former has been designed by the US-based company to increase production and decrease labor costs. Bridge says that its BT008 has a self-contained hydraulic drive system that offers increased versatility with separate drives to the main and auxiliary augers. Production rates are up to 160,000 pieces per hour using multi-head attachments. The BT008 is designed to form round meatballs with no dies or forming plates.

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Non-slip floors Thousands of hours are lost each year due to injuries caused by workplace accidents that are a direct result from slips. In addition to loss man-hours, companies with poor flooring can leave themselves wide open for legal damages in the event of an employee injury, says Sika. It says that it is able to customize flooring systems to not simply meet Oil Wet Ramp Test requirements but to also exceed them, while at the same time ensuring the floor performs in all the other crucial durability and hygiene areas as well. Because in most cases a new Sika floor can be applied directly over an existing process area floor, installation downtime is minimal, says the international company.

Safe wing cutter Prime Equipment Group’s new CWS-1 and CWS-1RB offer a safe and flexible wing cutting solution, capable of producing two or three-piece wings and designed for either cone line breast debone lines or off-line wing separation systems. The CWS-1 uses a fixed blade to wedge/push the bone apart at the joint. The CWS-1-RB uses a rotary saw blade for a cut that replicates the look of a hand-cut wing. Prime says that both machines improve worker safety and save labor.

Color Enhancing Oven Heat and Control of the US says it has perfected product browning in a spiral oven, which can develop the correct degree of color on poultry or meat products. Enhanced air flow applied during the final stage of cooking assures finished product retains the most appetizing appearance. The CEO cooks product uniformly, regardless of its location on the conveyor belt. Hot, moisturecontrolled air is evenly distributed in a 360-degree pattern to ensure equal and uniform heating across all tiers. Steam, dry heat, or combinations of both, are controlled independently to provide optimal cooking conditions for different products.

Mini shredder Cove Equipment is proud to present the Cove SH-1 Shredder. After the success of our bigger shredders there was a large demand for a smaller model. Since its release in 2014 customers agree that the SH-1 is perfect for restaurants and facilities with a small shredding volume. It gives the impression of natural ìshredsî instantly without grinding or cutting the meat. It works great on cooked chicken, pork, beef, and more. Additionally, sanitation is easy, no tools needed to remove only one guard for high pressure cleaning. The SH-1 is simple to use and operate with only an on, off, and emergency stop buttons anyone can use it right out of the box. It's available in 115V and 230V so you can plug it in anywhere. It's constructed of all stainless materials and it's CE approved. Return on investment is fast and leasing is available. To learn more visit: www.cove-equipment.com

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Q& Commissioner A

hile most citizens anywhere in the world would be hard pressed to name their agriculture commissioner/ minister, during a recent trip though Texas, Meat Packing Journal found newly elected Sid Miller to be the exception; everyone knows who he is and what he stands for. We talk to this fascinating man who will leave you with an extremely positive impression of the Lone Star State – let’s not all move there at once.

Rodeo titles aside, you have a rock solid background in agriculture as a farmer and you’ve even taught it, but Texas is larger than over 120 countries, with 130 million acres in farmland. Just how big of a jump will this be for you in your new role?

As a former six-term member of the Texas House of Representatives, I am proud during my tenure to have served as Chairman of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee. It is this committee’s job to perform oversight of the Texas Department of Agriculture and work on ag policy. I have worked all my life to prepare for this job and I am ready to do what it takes to become the best Agriculture Commissioner this state has ever seen.

Besides becoming Texas’ newest commissioner of agriculture, you’re also a genuine cowboy, holding nine world rodeo championships titles. Do you realise you are the only agriculture commissioner/minister in the world that has this distinction? My entire life has revolved around agriculture. I grew up in FFA [Future Farmers of America] and then began my career as an agriculture teacher. Add nine world titles in rodeo competitions and my time serving as the Chairman of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee in the Texas House of Representatives, and one might say agriculture is in my DNA. It has always been a dream of mine to serve the people of the great state of Texas as their Agriculture Commissioner and now the dream has come true. While in most states people would be hard pressed to name their commissioner of agriculture, Texas is an exception. What makes the job so important to the average Texan? Texans love their cowboys. Our state is home to the largest number of farms and ranches in America and is the nation’s leader in cattle and cotton. One in seven Texans work in ag related businesses and agriculture generates over $115 billion in economic impact for our state. Texans understand agriculture has been the foundation our state was built upon and agriculture will continue to be a critical part of our economic driver for generations to come. 70 | Meat Packing Journal | May~June 2015

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Sid Miller What is your four-year vision for Texas’s agriculture? We need to make sure every Texan — from our urban neighbors to our friends in rural areas — understands the relevance of the Texas Department of Agriculture [TDA]. Whether you’re living in the metro area of Houston or on a ranch in Hale County, Texas agriculture matters in each of our lives, and it’s my mission to educate every Texan on agriculture’s importance. In the short term, we are planning international trips with TDA staff members to expand Texas ag exports to nations all across the globe. My team and I also are working with the Texas Legislature to restore funding to TDA to ensure we can improve services and better serve the people of this great state. In the long term, we must ensure agriculture has a seat at the table when we talk about water planning. Texas’ water plan for the next 50 years must balance the interests of rural, suburban and urban areas of the state. Without proper water resources, agriculture will suffer and that could lead to devastating consequences for the entire state. In surveys, US farmers see their greatest problem is not the weather or the cost of feed, but instead government regulations. Do you see your office as being a shield against these? We need the federal government to follow the Texas model of low taxes, fewer regulations and a fair court system. As Texas Agriculture Commissioner, I am going to fight to make sure the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies stay out of the way. An overreaching regulatory system could hurt many of our ranchers, and I plan to fight any rules or legislation that will break the backs of Texans. Our farmers and ranchers are the original environmentalists, conservationists and stewards of the land. Our animals and a healthy environment are what keep us in business. We would be out of work otherwise. We must work together to educate those living in urban and suburban areas about how we protect our resources, and I look forward to partnering with our ranchers to do just that. Could you explain the Texas Beef Checkoff program? The US federal government already had a beef checkoff program in place, why did Texas need their own? In 2014, Texas beef producers voted to establish a statewww.meatpacking.info

level Beef Checkoff program. It was approved by 67 percent of the producers who cast a ballot. The Texas Department of Agriculture conducted this referendum upon petition by cattle industry organizations under the authorities designated by the Texas Legislature. Texas is the largest cattle producing state in the nation, and our beef is among the highest-quality in the world. As Texas ranchers continue to grow and raise the bar to meet consumers’ tastes and preferences, these funds will be used in a manner to enhance our producers’ profitability and sustainability of food production. The Texas Beef Checkoff program will be used for the promotion, marketing, research and educational efforts of beef and beef products for prospective consumers of Texas beef around the world. Throughout the US and even most of the developed world, farmers are getting older and fewer young people want to go into the industry. What steps is Texas doing to ensure there will always be a younger generation of farmers? Recently, I announced grant awards for 23 young ranchers and farmers through the Texas Department of Agriculture’s (TDA) Young Farmer Grant Program. This program is part of our efforts to promote and sustain Texas’ position as an agricultural powerhouse, as well as support younger agricultural producers. With only six percent of our farmers and ranchers under the age of 35, now more than ever, it is imperative that we support this critical segment of our industry. The future of Texas agriculture lies partly in the hands of our next generation — today’s young farmers. Agriculture producers between the ages of 18 and 45 are eligible for the Young Farmer Grant Program. Funds are used to help create, sustain or expand agricultural businesses in Texas. Since the program’s inception in 2009, a total of $1.6 million has been given to 171 young ranchers and farmers. And last but far from least, what makes Texas –Texas? In Texas we dream bigger! The Lone Star State has a heritage of independence and freedom. It is the home of cowboys and ranches, a place of diverse cultures and dramatic history. Here in Texas, agriculture still stands as a giant, even in a state with one of the most diversified economies in America. We are Texas and there is not better state in the union. May~June 2015 | Meat Packing Journal | 71

D ire c t o ry

Directory Banss America

MPS meat processing systems

Stork Poultry Processing

Services: Food safety and hygiene, Logistics and handling, Processing, Slaughter Species: Pork, Red Meat Region: North America Web: www.banssamerica.com Tel: +1 407 930 3554 Email: gpolitis@banss.de

Services: Slaughter, Processing, Further processing, Weighing and portioning,, Waste treatment, logistics Species: Pork, Red Meat, Region: Worldwide Web: www.mps-group.nl Tel: +31 544 390500 Email: info@mps-group.nl

Services: Further Processing, IT solutions, Labeling and packaging, Logistics and handling, Other services, Processing, Refrigeration, Slaughter, Weighing and portioning Species: Poultry Region: Worldwide Web: www.marel.com/poultry Tel: +31 (0) 485 586 111 Email: info.poultry@marel.com

Dohmeyer Services: Cooling and refrigeration; further processing Species: Pork, Poultry, Red meat, Other Region: Worldwide Web: www.dohmeyer.be Tel: +32 496 16 98 08 Email: info@dohmeyer.be

Multisorb

FRC Systems International

Prime Equipment Group

Services: Waste management Species: Poultry, Pork, Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.frcsystems.com Tel: +1 770 534 3681 Email: info@frcsystems.com

Services: Processing, Slaughter Species: Poultry, Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.primeequipmentgroup.com Tel: +1 614 253 8590 Fax: +1 614 253 6966 Email: Sales@PrimeEquipmentGroup.com

Handtmann

Services: Packaging Species: Poultry, Pork, Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.multisorb.com Tel: +1 716 824 8900 Email: info@multisorb.com

Services: Processing, Further processing, Weighing and portioning Species: Poultry, Pork, Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.handtmann.de Tel: +49 7351 45 0 Email: info.machines@handtmann.de

Provisur Technologies

Jarvis Products Corporation

Reiser

Services: Processing, Slaughter Species: Pork, Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.jarvisproducts.com Tel: +1 860 347 7271 Email: sales@jarvisproducts.com

Services: Further Processing, Labeling and packaging, Processing Species: Poultry, Pork, Red Meat Region: Europe, North America Web: www.reiser.com Tel: +1 614 253 8590 Email: sales@reiser.com

Services: Further Processing, Processing Species: Poultry, Pork, Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.provisur.com Tel: +1 312 204 6042 Email: info@provisur.com

Scott Technology Services: Further Processing, Logistics and handling, Processing, Refrigeration Species: Red Meat Region: Worldwide Web: www.scott.co.nz Tel: +1 614 253 8590 Email: sales@scott.co.nz

Get your company listed in print and online

sales@meatpacking.info

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e v en t s

2015 17 - 20 May Alltech REBELation Lexington, USA www.alltech.com 14 - 15 September EuroPack Summit Cascais, Portugal www.europacksummit.com 15 - 18 September Process Expo Chicago, US www.myprocessexpo.com 21-23 September Livestock Asia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.livestockasia.com 5 - 9 October Agroprodmash Moscow, Russia www.agroprodmash-expo.ru 22 - 24 October International Meat, Meat Products & Equipment Exhibition Shanghai, China http://www.chinaexhibition.com 27 - 29 October ProPak Cape Johannesburg, South Africa www.propakafrica.co.za 25-27 November Poultry India 2015 Hitex Hyderabad, India www.poultryindia.co.in 26-28 January IPPE 2016 Atlanta, USA www.ippexpo.com 16-18 February VIV MEA 2016 Abu Dhabi, UAE www.viv.net

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C O n t ac t s

Velo Mitrovich

Rhian Owen

Editorial

Sales

Velo Mitrovich

Jim Robertson

Editor +44 1442 780 591 velo@meatpacking.info

James Chappelow

Technical Editor james@meatpacking.info

Head of Sales +44 1442 780 593 jim@meatpacking.info

Josh Henderson

Accounts Manager +44 1442 780 594 josh@meatpacking.info

Executive

reby media

Jack Young

Reby House

Publisher jack@meatpacking.info

Rhian Owen

Group Editor +44 1442 780 592 rhian@meatpacking.info

Jack Young

42 Crouchfield Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP1 1PA Great Britain info@rebymedia.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the express prior written consent of the publisher. Meat Packing Journal ISSN 2054-4677 is published bimonthly by Reby Media, 42 Crouchfield, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1PA. Subscription records are maintained at Reby Media, 42 Crouchfield, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1PA. Meat Packing Journal and its Editorial Board accept no responsibility for the accuracy of statements or opinion given within the Journal that is not the expressly designated opinion of the Journal or its Editorial Board. Those opinions expressed in areas other than editorial comment may not be taken as being the opinion of the Journal or its staff, and the aforementioned accept no responsibility or liability for actions that arise therefrom.

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Jim Robertson

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Editorial advisory board Meat Packing Journal is advised and guided by an editorial advisory board formed of leading professionals and researchers

Jorge Ruiz Carrascal University of Copenhagen Fred W. Pohlman University of Arkansas Ian Richardson University of Bristol Graeme Rolinson Marel