Meat + Poultry - September 2005 - 50

industry, internal audits can be conducted
remotely and auditors in training can benefit from learning first in a classroom-like
setting before going out to a live plant to
test what they've learned. "It supplements
doing live audits," says Grandin.
While the meat industry is leery of the
word "surveillance" when it relates to
video cameras, the technology can work
in favor of companies. In a food safety
or recall situation, for example, footage
could be used to prove a company did
something right or confirm that a procedure was followed. "Big Brother can work
both ways," Grandin says. In some cases,
the mere presence of video cameras in a
meat processing plant has proven to be
an efficiency and quality assurance tool,
even if the cameras are not connected to
a recording device but rather are used as a
real-time video feed to plant supervisors'
offices. Instead of resisting what has proven to be a thorn in the side of the industry,
Grandin advises plant operators of all sizes
and types, "You need to run your plant like
there is a live video feed from the plant to
all the networks."
Besides recommending the use of video cameras to improve animal handling
practices, Grandin also supports their
use to ensure food safety procedures are
being followed at critical control points,
including spinal cord removal, legging,
gutting and even nighttime cleaning
of facilities. However, Grandin doesn't
expect widespread adoption of video
monitoring to occur overnight. "It will
start at those critical control points,"
says Grandin."It's in those locations
where you want to put the cameras. You
want to start with say, five cameras in
the plant, not 50," she says. "Eventually,
it's going to happen."
Nothing to hide
Video technology isn't limited to enhancing operations in just one area of the
plant. The trend is toward utilizing video
cameras throughout the supply chain, not
just where livestock is unloaded at the
plant. (See "Hot zone focus," Page 55)
"You can monitor how cattle are being
handled by truckers and if you mount the
camera in the right place, you could even

count the cows as they
come off the trucks,"
says Grandin.
This past year, Grandin partnered with
Boca Raton, Fla.-based
ADT Security Services,
Inc., and Arrowsight,
Inc., New York, in an effort to provide
meat processing plants with food safety
monitoring and auditing using remote
video technology. One of ADT's first customers in this segment was Plumrose USA,
the East Brunswick, N.J.-based processor
of sliced meats, deli hams and bacon. "I
am working with Arrowsight now," says
Grandin, "but I was supportive of video
use in plants for years." Other plants,
she says, including some owned by Tyson
Foods, have used video cameras for as
long as a decade. "It's something I've always been supportive of, because if you're
doing something right, you don't have to
worry about being on video."
Since implementing the system this past
fall, Plumrose has become one of the more
aggressive companies in terms of adding cameras in the plant to improve food
safety efforts.
Grandin was initially asked to consult
with ADT to determine where cameras
should be placed for optimum monitoring and auditing. "We needed to figure

prosecuting the company on the evening
news. "The industry needs to get over
that," says Grandin. "There is no way you
can keep hidden cameras out. They have
gotten to be so small that they can be
a part of a necklace, in a belt buckle or
a snap on a shirt. How are you going to
guard against that? You would have to
strip search everyone at the door." Even
so, employees could plant a tiny camera
on the outside perimeter of a facility
and pick it up from the inside once they
cleared security. Micro-cameras could
also be smuggled into a plant in employees' lunchboxes. "You can't keep video
cameras out of plants so don't even try.
Just get over it."
Processors should realize that their systems are flawed when it comes to security,
she adds. Luckily, only a handful of people
know about the industry's soft underbelly.
"Let me tell you," Grandin warns, "you're
lucky I'm not a criminal because with my
visual thinking, there's not a security system I couldn't beat."

"You need to run your plant like there
is a live video feed from the plant to all
the networks."
out where the cameras needed to be if
I wanted to conduct the whole A.M.I.
animal handling audit," she says. Among
those places are in the animal unloading area; the holding pens; drive alleys
leading up to the stunning area; and the
stunning area, where insensibility could
be assessed.
The adoption of video cameras in the
industry is perhaps hindered by a stigma
that hidden cameras have, for years, been
smuggled into plants to catch an employee doing something wrong and publicly

One day, processors may get to the point
where footage from their in-plant operations, including stunning, will be available
on their Web sites for anyone and everyone
to view in real-time. Damning footage
from inside plants will undoubtedly continue to show up on anti-industry groups
Web sites. The same techniques can be
used to shed positive light on the industry.
"They're going to keep showing it, and it's
not going to be nice," Granin adds. "Why
don't we set up cameras and show stunning done right."

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