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A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. Date: October 26th, 2023 Duration: 61 Minutes Dr. Kurt Vogel and Ashlynn Kirk of the Humane Handling Institute at University of Wisconsin -River Falls explain their exciting new programand field all of your most pressing humane handling questions! We troubleshoot handling and stunning related challenges, beginning with scenarios that we have […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. Date: October 5th, 2023 Duration: 90 Minutes Are slaughter and fabrication yields a part of the daily conversation in your small plant? Do you track yields throughout your production process? If so, are you using that data to make decisions on the cut floor? Whether the answer […]
If you need more help than this website can offer, the Niche Meat Processing Assistance Network has rounded up resources for each state (or close to), called State Affiliates. We are working hard to identify a reliable affiliate for each state, but thus far only have 30 out of 50 states covered. State Affiliates are […]
Modular Harvest System Hudson Valley, New York “Now we are thinking of the MHS as a way for people to try out the business, get some experience operating under inspection, with FSIS. And it comes with a HACCP plan.” – Jess Hamilton All MSUs have been conceived and built to add to local, inspected […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Learn more about NMPAN: www.nichemeatprocessing.org Webinar Description Mobile poultry processing units (MPPUs) have been around for more than ten years. On this webinar, we learned about five MPPUs on the ground around the country: Kentucky, Montana, Vermont, and two in Massachusetts. Each of our speakers covered the […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Overview N-60 sampling. Multi drug resistance. Pathogen v. adulterant. Non-0157 STECs. MDR Salmonella strains. Gram negative v. gram positive organisms. CFU, APC, PCR, PFGE. If you’re a meat processor, you pretty much have to know all this stuff. And if you work with a meat processor, you should […]
Mobile Slaughter Units: Reports from the Field and Future Directions A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Date: September 10, 2013 Duration: 90 minutes Overview Inspected mobile slaughter units for beef, bison, and other red meat species have been operating for more than a decade. How are they working out? What have we learned? And how […]
What’s on this page? A basic understanding of microbiology can really help as you develop food safety and HACCP plans. This page has a few resources to get you started as well as some suggested anti-microbial interventions for small plants. What is microbiology? How do I get started? Learn Microbiology Basics NMPAN Webinars What are the […]
What’s on this page? Upgrading or expanding an existing meat processing plant, building a new facility, buying equipment… it all costs money, and plenty of it. The information on this page will help you understand and navigate financing options that fit your processing plans. Q: What are my financing options? Which one is best […]
Cost Analysis: Are You Making Money? A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Date: March 19, 2014 Duration: 1 hour All NMPAN webinars are free and open to the public. Overview Many meat processors watch their checkbook balances and hope for the best. Some wade through P&L statements looking for answers and often come up short. Most […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar, presented in collaboration with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Date: February 4, 2014 Duration: 1 hour The Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill and launched by USDA-FSIS in 2012, allows state-inspected meats from qualifying plants to be shipped across state lines. The goal of the program […]
Here are a set of blueprints for a mobile poultry processing unit (MPPU) built to operate under “equal to” state inspection in Vermont. The MPPU was built by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, with funding from the Vermont Legislature and the Castanea Foundation, in 2008. It was leased by a small poultry processor for several years, then sold to a farm […]
This page was developed with input from experienced producers, processors, and regulators. Consumer interest in raw, local and/or organic diets for their pets has increased greatly in recent years. With Americans spending over $60 billion on their pets annually, many meat processors are looking for ways to access the growing pet food market. While customers […]
If you are interested in preparing jerky in your processing facility, you will need to demonstrate lethality in your jerky-making process. Typically this means cooking under controlled humidity per Appendix A, and then drying. This AskFSIS question addresses this: http://askfsis.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/902/ A few words of advice on jerky making from our listserv: “A real smokehouse […]
<< Back From bacon to jerky, prosciutto and salami, further processed meat products have a strong following. Consumers like the taste, and farmers, butchers, and restaurants like turning lower end cuts into high value specialty meats. All of these products come with additional regulations and scrutiny if you wish to make them in your processing plant, butcher […]
Meat processors, like most businesses, work hard to cut costs, hoping to improve their bottom line. But while cost cutting can sometimes improve profits, too often it doesn’t get us very far. So what can? Research with small plants in Iowa indicates that increasing throughput — sales less raw materials — is almost three times […]
Increase Your Retail Sales with More Frequent Delivery Nick McCann, Iowa State University Extension Nick McCann is an Agricultural Business Specialist with Iowa State University Cooperative Extension. He works with small meat plants in Iowa, helping them improve their bottom lines by identifying useful and practical changes they can make in their processes and […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Date: April 23, 2015 (note: new date) Time: 10 am PST / 1pm EST for one hour To attend: Go to https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/nichemeat 5-10 minutes before start time and log in as a guest. All NMPAN webinars are free and open to the public. Overview: Many small-scale […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. Date: February 18, 2015 Duration: one hour Overview: The first USDA-inspected mobile slaughter unit (MSU) for red meat species began operating in 2002. Since then, MSUs have not only evolved in size and design but have also gone international: Europe, South America, Papua New Guinea, and soon […]
A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar. Date: January 7, 2015 Duration: one hour Local meat and poultry markets rely on small processors with a range of skills and services. NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina State University, spent two years working with a set of small processors […]