Jan Busboom Washington State University

Publish Date: March 15, 2016

Food animal performance and profitability, meat quality, individual safety, family dynamics, and consumer perspectives are all impacted by the way people work livestock on the farm, in transportation or at exhibition. Using proper pig handling and movement practices will not only contribute to good animal care and performance, but will improve pig and human safety and public perception as youth prepare, transport, and exhibit pigs at fairs and shows. Proper pig handling will also improve youth and their family's experience and success in raising a swine project for exhibition.

Publish Date: June 3, 2006

Establishing a HACCP program involves conducting a hazard analysis, determining critical control points, establishing critical limits, developing a written plan, developing monitoring and documentation procedures, establishing a microbiological testing program and establishing a feasible ongoing verification program. Areas of economic concern for small processors include microbiological testing, mandatory changes in facilities to meet the USDA-FSIS requirements, chilling rate requirements and the need to have completely separated areas for cooked and uncooked products during storage and handling. Many small plants have fewer than 20 employees, slaughter one or two days a week, process a wide variety of products some of which are seasonal, and often custom process as well. These characteristics set them apart from large processing facilities with many skilled employees, that slaughter every day, produce a narrow range of products (in each plant) all year long, and do not custom process. The challenges to the small plant operator are largely those of scale, organization, time and knowledge.