Author: Gregg Rentfrow
Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences
Major Program: Local Food Systems
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
Harmon Brother's Meats is a meat processor in Northern Kentucky that has two locations, a slaughter and fabrication plant and a retail grocery store in the next county. They offer local meats when available in their retail store. Harmon Brother's had two issues that needed to be addressed. First, they had recently purchased the retail store, but had limited experience in the retail/grocery business thus they asked for my help. I worked in retail grocery stores for 14 years, so I was able to draw upon my experience to help them redesign their store to better take advantage of the consumer movement through the store. In addition, I worked with them on improving the quality of their meat cuts as well as teaching them some of the new beef and pork cuts. Second, the slaughter plant had some issues with humane handling and improper stunning, and was shutdown by the USDA-FSIS. I worked with them to redesign the knock box, stunning equipment, and trained them on proper humane handling and stunning techniques. The later training was performed at our facility on campus. Currently, through our efforts, the slaughter facility has been allowed to continue to harvest animals by the USDA-FSIS. Moreover, the retail grocery store has continued to be a vital part of the community.
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