Author: Hillary Barter

Categories: Food in the News / Local Procurement / News from Sustain Ontario / The Meat Press / Webinars

On October 30th we hosted a Webinar on Mobile Abattoirs. Here is the recording, in case you missed it or would like to re-live some of the most interesting moments!

Below, you’ll also find a link to a “backgrounder” on meat regulation in Ontario (in case this stuff is new to you), a point-form summary of the webinar (in case you prefer reading to watching/listening), and links to the slide presentations shared by some of our panelists, as well as some other related links.

Get caught up on the basics of meat regulation in Ontario, and watch the webinar below.

The event on October 30th was a great success. With the help of a panel of 6 experienced growers/processors/advocates for good meat policy, we were able to host a great conversation about the mobile abattoir idea.

Some of the panelists pointed out some substantial advantages associated with this type of processing unit: they eliminate the need for livestock to travel long distances, something that causes them a lot of stress and affects the quality of meat; they can dramatically increase processing capacity even within wide geographic regions; and they can be a model of processing plant that can be operated as a profitable business.

However, other panelists emphasized some significant challenges associated with mobile abattoirs: the investment required to construct each unit; the fact that a specific set of food safety guidelines would need to be developed in order to meet the needs of mobile abattoir operators; and the fact that a number of logistical issues would be potential problems – in terms of work-flow (parts of the process moving more quickly than others), timely transportation to partnering “cut & wrap” facilities, and scheduling coordination.

Some people think these barriers are surmountable, while others wonder if mobile units are really the best option available for improving meat processing infrastructure in Ontario. If you’d like to contribute more to this conversation, please email meat@sustainontario.ca; we’ll sign you up for our “Meat Working Group” email list. We’ll be meeting in January 2013 to discuss ways to move forward.

If you would like a sense of how the conversation went, check out this Summary of the Webinar.

Also, a series of useful spreadsheets, which can be used to “calculate revenue and costs for a mobile slaugher unit based on meat selling price, carcass yields, and animal purchase prices by species,” were designed by Kate Painter and are available online on her website (scroll right to the bottom of the page.)



And panalists’ slide presentations can be viewed here….

Kathleen Gibson (Policy Analyist from BC)



Bert Dening (ran a Mobile Abattoir pilot project in Alberta)

Cory Van Gronigen (runs a farm and slaughterhouse in Ontario)

Amy Proulx (Professor at Niagara College and former food safety inspector)