Meat+Poultry - December 2016 - 20

COVER STORY

Alison Yin

After spending 24 hours
in the cooler, the lamb
carcasses are sent to
fabrication and are broken
down into four primals
and finally, into retail
and foodservice cuts.

20

company has an additional 50,000-sq.-ft. lamb
processing plant in Denver, where 500,000 head
per year are processed.

PROCESSING PROCEDURES
Like most large-scale slaughtering operations,
the new plant is divided into two areas -
"clean" and "dirty" - each of which contain
separate employee changing areas and
cafeterias. To avoid cross contamination,
employees working in the slaughter side of
the plant stay in the "dirty" area, while those
working on the fabrication and packaging side
stay in the "clean" area.
Processing at the plant usually starts at 6
a.m., five days per week. The line runs until
between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. A Saturday shift is
added at peak times of the year, such as around
Christmas and Easter, or other times when
there is a higher demand for lamb.
The plant is open to receive livestock 24
hours a day, but typically the animals are
brought in the night before they are harvested.
After unloading they are housed in barns until
they are moved to the processing floor. The
lambs are led into the processing area up a
series of ramps, then they calmly follow each
other onto a center track conveyor restrainer
and into the stunning area. The animals are
held securely and are rendered unconscious
with an electric stunner. Next on the conveyor
belt, their throats are slit and they bleed out.
Superior Farms' lambs are certified Halal,

MEAT+ POULTRY | 12.16 | www.meatpoultry.com

which means one of four practicing Muslims,
who are specially trained, must perform the
final steps in the slaughter. If those individuals
are unable to perform their duties - which
rarely occurs - the process remains the same
but then the product is not labeled Halal.
After bleeding, the lamb's feet are removed
and the carcasses hung up so they can be
skinned with a hide puller. The sheep pelts are
carefully removed and sent to the hide barn for
inspection, salting and drying before being sent
to a tannery. Following hide removal, the heads
are removed and examined and the carcasses
are split and eviscerated. Throughout the
harvesting process there are a number of
food safety interventions, one of which is the
application of a 2.5 percent acetic acid solution
to the carcasses for microbial control. The
carcasses spend 24 hours in the cooler before
moving on to fabrication.
Not unlike its beef, poultry and porkprocessing counterparts in the industry,
USDA personnel are on site at Superior
at all times during production to inspect
the animals, ante- and post-mortem. The
representative also monitors animal handling
concerns, both as the animals arrive at the
plant and while they're being handled prior
to and during processing.
On the fabrication side of the plant,
employees rotate duties on the processing line
every 20 minutes to prevent repetitive stress
injuries. Each employee is trained in three
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Meat+Poultry - December 2016

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