Efficiently removing hair and softening skin on carcasses during pork production, while also maintaining product quality, is a process that is ripe for miscues. With a host of procedures that can go awry during processing — resulting in potentially powerful financial wallops — it is essential that plant operators have multiple barriers in place to limit mishaps, analysts say.
“No single step that is taken to safeguard pork operations is perfect,” says Bryon Wiegand, professor of meat science in the division of animal sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia. “Processors need to maintain a system approach that they continuously monitor to enhance product quality and sanitary conditions. And the greatest piece that plant owners or managers can look at is making sure that adequate employee training programs are in place.”