Mobile Meat Processing

One of the challenges faced by socially responsible livestock farmers is the scarcity of small-scale, independent meat processing facilities. Unfortunately, as US meat production became increasingly industrialized, the nation’s network of small, independent meat processors was gradually replaced by huge industrial slaughterhouses, which process tremendous numbers of animals at breakneck speeds.

These industrial slaughterhouses cater to factory farms, which are able to provide a steady supply of nearly identical animals (the uniform size of factory-farmed animals allows industrial slaughterhouses to mechanize more of the slaughtering process, which increases the speed and reduces the need for workers).

Small livestock farmers are generally shut out of large-scale slaughterhouses, which prefer producers capable of providing a huge supply of animals. Yet even if they could gain access, most socially responsible farmers wouldn’t want to take their animals to industrial slaughterhouses since their livestock would be processed along with all the livestock from factory farms. As a result, the socially responsible farmer would be unable to distinguish his/her high-quality meat from the mass-produced protein churned out by factory farms (the socially responsible farmer would thus be unable to earn a fair payment for producing a superior product using responsible techniques).

Unfortunately, few other facilities process meat under USDA inspection. This creates a significant challenge for socially responsible livestock farmers who may not have time or resources to bring their livestock to far-off processing facilities. One excellent solution is the use of mobile meat processing units (MMPUs); these USDA-certified facilities can be driven to farms to conduct onsite slaughtering.

View the photoset above to see a mobile meat processing unit in South Dakota.
Learn about the Nebraska Environmental Action Coalition’s mobile meat processing project.