June 28, 2011 - Mizzou

This morning, we took a field trip to the meat lab. Here we were taught how the animals were slaughtered, stored, cooked, and sold. I did not take any pictures of the carcasses for those that have an easy stomach. But it was my first time at a meat lab and it was a great experience. 

 There were many attachments hanging from the ceiling used to slice/butcher the animals.

 This is the picture of the kill floor. The blood is collected in a pan when the animal is drained and stored in the cooler for proper removal. None of the blood or animal actually touches the floor. A certified USDA inspector must be present at all times during the killing process.Pigs and Cows go through different killing processes, and pigs take about 15 minutes, while cows take longer.

 This machine is used to remove the hair off of the pig after it is drained and killed. It is filled with 140F water and the machine turns to remove the hair. After this, the pig is flamed to remove anything excess on the skin.

 This is where the pigs would be slaughtered. It is first stunned unconscious (picture below) and then sliced at the jugular before being hung by the Achilles tendon.

After being slaughtered, inspected, and sliced, the pigs are then smoked in this smoker. This room smelled like roasted bbq pork. The pork and beef are then sold at the front of the meat lab at their store. They sell to the public but not for resale. 

Later, Sara and I both worked at the Student Center. It was newly renovated four years ago and the University owns all the retail stores located inside it, except Sunshine Sushi which is contracted. We spoke with the manager for a while, who then showed us around to the different locations and the unique machines used at each place. 

 This is one of the retail locations that sells different types of pizzas and pastas. All their pastas are whole grain and they have a special pizza every day.

Their pizza is kept heated by an above heat lamp and a glass heater underneath them.

They cook all their pizzas in this oven. Their are flames on both sides that control the temperature of the air in the oven. The bottom of the oven - which is kind of like a flat grill heats up as well to cook the bottom of the crust.

 What is great about this retail location is that not only do they only use whole grain pasta, they customize your order as well - and will put any type of vegetable you order in it, with the variety of different sauces available.

 This is the rotisserie grill used to cook the meats sold at Domundo's- which is one of the other retail locations in the student center and stands for BBQ of the World.

This retail location is called Kate and Emma's - named after the manager's daughters. They sell a variety of wraps, sandwiches, salads, and soups.