Infrastructure Support for Small Livestock Processing Facilities

Infrastructure Support for Small Livestock Processing Facilities

Summary

Alterations in food safety requirements challenge the ability of small processors to remain sustainable. New requirements from USDA require small and very small meat processors to validate food safety processes. Small processors do not have the technical skills to conduct validation studies to meet the new requirements.

Processors were contacted, and ten plants displayed an interest in help with validation of E. coli O157:H7 interventions currently being used in plant and generic validation of “Fully Cooked Not Shelf-stable” HACCP plans. There is a reduction in all plants when the intervention is applied or cooking is done.

Objectives/Performance Targets

This project will partner the expertise at the Montana State University Meat Lab with the needs of local Montana processors and the State Inspection program in a manner that educates and helps processors comply with new federal regulations, insuring a safe locally-processed meat product.

After the completion of this project, processors will have a written testing plan tailor-made for their processes that will help them comply with the ever-changing inspection requirements. The processor will also have data to support the decisions they have made for food safety, as well as the procedures to construct charts that can be used to track their progress for microbial food safety. The project will construct the foundation to help the small processors of Montana to comply with inspection requirements for testing, along with insuring the production of a safe meat product.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Eighteen small meat processors that harvest beef in Montana were contacted to determine how many wanted to participate in the validation studies. These 18 plants include the five plants that had agreed to participate upon submission of the proposal. The contact included obtaining information about slaughter days, inspector names, pounds or number of animals harvested and intervention used. Processors interested in “Fully Cooked Not Shelf-stable” HACCP plans have been contacted and testing initiated.

Ten plants expressed interest in participating in the validation study. I have completed sampling at three plants; I have one sampling period left at one plant, two sampling periods at one plant and three sampling periods at two more plants. One of the challenges for the extremely small plants is that they only kill one or two beef a week. I have completed the evaluation of interventions for harvest with some plants only having one or two visits. The direction of the project changed because of regulatory issues with identifying E. coli O157:H7 in plants. The redirect is to validate one HACCP plan (Fully Cooked not Shelf-stable) in plants. The plants have been contacted and validation studies initiated in two plants.

I have developed an overall recommendation sheet addressing some of the more common issues that I saw in the plants when implementing interventions at slauther. Individual recommendations have also been given to the slaughter plants. Some examples of the recommendations are listed below.

*Experienced or trained person applying intervention
*Constant time washing/applying lactic acid
*Don’t let sprayer nozzle for lactic acid lay on floor
*Especially in spring months, watch for hair and manure on carcass
*Carefully inspect each carcass for contaminants; don’t depend on the inspector to find contaminants.

Temperature decline graphs were developed for each plant, along with a cooler graph for the same time period. This will help the processors determine the effectiveness of the cooling regime they normally do. Many researchers have indicated that the rate of surface chilling is very important to control of pathogens on beef carcasses.

• Handout distributed to meat processors

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

*Each processor receives microbial data to support the specific intervention used in plant

*Standard practices for sampling of individual carcasses will be supplied to each processor

*Carcass temperature decline graphs will be supplied for plants to incorporate into HACCP plans

*Recommendations for dressing procedures and intervention application to reduce microbial survival

*Validation data for HACCP plan will be supplied to participating plants

Collaborators: