Logistical considerations

 

Logistical factors to consider                                                                      

·         regulations regarding a plant’s grounds and facilities

·        facility operations

·         utilities

·         delivery of live animals

·         delivery of products to markets

 

1.     regulations regarding a plant’s grounds and facilities

·         9 CFR 416.2 contains the regulations regarding a plant’s grounds and facilities. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PPT/Applying_for_Grant_of_Inspection.ppt#256,1     
They include provisions for the following: 

§         Grounds and pest control

§        Construction

§         Light

§         Ventilation

§        Plumbing

§         Sewage disposal

§         Water supply and water, ice, and solution reuse

§         Dressing rooms, lavatories, and toilets

 

2.     facility operations

·         One of the limiting factors affecting facility operations is availability of the USDA inspector. 

§         Most small slaughterhouse operations establish a fixed schedule for live animal inspection, slaughtering, and post-slaughter activities for which the inspector must be present.

§        The inspector is typically available up to 40 hours per week; if the schedule exceeds then charges for the inspector will be incurred (including overtime and applicable travel expenses).

·         Small slaughtering operations commonly slaughter one to three days per week, with the balance of time each week focused on clean-up, maintenance, and further processing activities. 

·         As previously noted, facility operations should be guided by two objectives:

§         Hygiene / food safety

§        Operational efficiency (i.e., efficient flow of materials and reasonable labor productivity)

 

3.     utilities

·         electricity

§         Electricity is required for lighting, material handling equipment, processing equipment, chilling / freezing / storage, and ancillary operations. Chillers/freezers are typically the largest electricity consumption points.

§         Electricity might also be required for water heating for facility wash-down (hygiene).  Solar thermal panels should be considered for pre-heating (or complete heating, depending on the size of the panels, extent of wash-down activities, ambient conditions, etc).

§        Given the potential consequences of loss of power for chillers and freezers, facilities located on islands with less-than-fully-reliable power from the grid should install back-up generators.  The generating equipment should include adequate fuel supplies for extended outages that could result from typhoons.

·         water

§        Potable water is required for carcass cleaning, facility cleaning, and domestic uses (e.g., lavatories and toilets). 

§        Facilities without access to a potable municipal water supply will need to incorporate an on-site water treatment system into the facility design and operation in order to meet USDA regulations.

§         Some mobile and pre-fabricated systems include on-board water treatment systems to ensure potable supplies are available. 

·        sewer

§         Sewage outflow from the operation may include liquid waste from slaughtering, wash-down from facility cleaning, and domestic effluent (e.g., lavatories and toilets). 

·        Refer to the Environmental section for discussions regarding slaughtering-derived liquid waste stream management considerations.

·        Facilities without access to a municipal sewer system will need to incorporate an on-site liquid waste treatment system into the facility design and operation in order to meat USDA regulations and effectively manage the liquid waste streams.

·        Solid waste

§         Solid waste from the operation may include solid waste from slaughtering (i.e., heads, hides, offal, etc) and domestic garbage. 

·         Refer to the Environmental section for discussions regarding slaughtering-derived solid waste stream management considerations.

·        Facilities without access to a municipal solid waste (MSW) management options will need to incorporate alternate MSW management plans into the facility design and operation.

 

4.      delivery of live animals

·        On-island: Livestock trailers for delivery of locally-produced live animals may be owned and operated by the slaughterhouse business and/or the animal suppliers. 

·         Inter-island: transport to and between the islands in the Marianas is limited and expensive. 

§         A list of inter-island ocean shipping companies is available at: http://www.cda.gov.mp/transport.htm

§         Ocean transport of live animals is in-frequent and entails use of special transport units such as the landing craft type boat based on Tinian or special containers, such as the “cowtainers” developed by Matson Shipping Company in Hawaii: http://www.hawaiiocean.com/HOI_Archives/HOI_1999-02/ ; photos of a live animal transport container used in Europe can be viewed at: http://www.container-progeco.com/article-cowtainer-conteneurs-pour-le-transport-du-betail-61766161.html

·        Design of the receiving and holding pens should be guided by three objectives:

·         Compliance with USDA regulations

·         Operational efficiency

·        Safety and minimal stress for the animals

5.      transport of meat products to markets

·        On-island: Transport of meat products could utilize standard refrigerated trucks.

·        Inter-island:  Transport of meat products will require refrigerated options.

§        Ocean transport would likely entail the same options currently used for shipping imported meat products.

§        Air transport may be an attractive option for the Marianas, given the limitations and high costs of ocean transport options.

·        Economics: It is assumed that inter-island transport of meat products is significantly more expensive on a per-pound-of-meat basis than on-island. 

           

Updated: April 21, 2011