USDA offering information for mobile slaughter units

By CARYL VELISEK
Staff Writer

BOONSBORO, Md. — The USDA, in an effort to make it easier for small and rural livestock producers to find ways to have their animals slaughtered locally, is helping mobile slaughter units comply with government regulations through a series of meetings, webinars and videos.
It also launched a toll-free help desk last December, for small meat and poultry processors, that supports the USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, by helping small processors reduce the time and expense of dealing with agency requirements.
On June 24, another step was taken toward this end, at the Washington County Agricultural Center with a meeting to educate farmers, ranchers and processors on how to set up mobile slaughter units, receive the federal grant of inspection and meet USDA food safety requirements.
The meeting was attended by 100 producers and interested parties from Maryland and neighboring states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New York and as far away as Texas and California, from USDA, local and state departments, and environmental agencies, according to Lesley Hendrickson, ag marketing specialist for Washington County.
“These units have to meet local and USDA requirements. Plus, if they are located near other states as Washington County (Md.) is, they have to meet the other state’s requirements, too,” Hendrickson said. “Especially when they are doing processing in a 200- to 400-mile radius.”
The units are designed mainly for rural communities and small producers, she added.
Animals intended for sale as food, according to Neil Gaffney, press officer for USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, typically must be transported to an inspected facility for slaughter and processing.
Unfortunately for livestock producers in rural areas throughout the country, they are finding it difficult, even cost prohibitive, to transport their livestock long distances to the closest inspected slaughter facility. 
“By having these mobile units and not having to move the animals so far to a plant, there is less stress on the animal and it produces a better quality product,” Hendrickson said.
There was not any talk of wildlife processing at the meeting, according to Hendrickson. It was strictly about domestic beef, sheep, poultry and swine. Among concerns brought up was the water used in processing and disposal of that water, and also disposal of the remains of the animals.
“USDA was extremely helpful and receptive,” she added.
There are nine mobile units in the country, the most recent in New York state. Cost is an issue. Cost to create a unit runs from $150,000 to $200,000.
“They are thinking in terms of cooperatives or several producers going together to share the cost,” Hendrickson said.
According to Gaffney, our nation’s food safety laws are designed to protect the public health.
FSIS is the federal agency responsible for enforcing these laws and wants to work with mobile slaughter facilities to ensure they understand them, can comply with them, and insure the products are safe.
Mobile slaughter units are self-contained slaughter facilities that can be moved from site to site. Typically, they provide services at conveniently located host farms setting up a docking station to which producers can bring livestock to.
FSIS-inspected mobile slaughter units are subject to the same regulatory requirements that apply to other FSIS inspected slaughter establishments. The inspector assigned to the unit must verify the slaughter process in the same way he or she would in a permanent facility.
The first step to getting a unit is to apply for a Federal Grant of Inspection. All operators are required to develop written Sanitation Operating Procedures and a written Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, or HACCP, plan. These documents must be specific to the operation and designed to prevent, control, or eliminate all food safety hazards identified in the analysis that are “reasonably likely to occur”.
There are currently nine FSIS inspected mobile slaughter units in the United States: Four in Washington State and one each in Alaska, California, New Mexico, New York, and Texas.
Hendrickson said there will likely be more meetings on the subject in the future.