Consumers are projected to eat a record amount of meat, so there must be a steady supply of available protein. However, industry consolidation has reduced the amount of packers to a handful of dominant players, and federal regulations are so strict that some companies are closing down or exiting the slaughter side of the business.

Slaughterhouse operations are evolving. Propelled by advancements in technology and methodologies, plants are producing higher quality proteins with a greater emphasis on food safety and the humane treatment of animals.

Boscher Volailles is a French poultry slaughtering and deboning plant built in 2008, that is part of the Glon group.

The Meat Sciences program in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois is a program broad in scope, but collaborative in nature.

Danish Crown, Europe’s largest meat-processing company, has meat-production facilities and sales spanning the globe.

FSIS has begun focusing more aggressively on possible connections between slaughter establishments and positive ground-beef samples.

Processors face a variety of trials with slaughter equipment. It is a real challenge to design equipment that is durable, easy to maintain and capable of work cycling in environments that have large changes in temperature and humidity. In addition, processors still need to protect workers and be concerned about food safety.

There are any number of scenarios under which FSIS may decide to perform its own environmental sampling in a slaughter or processing facility.