LAYOUT GUIDE

FOR SMALL MEAT PLANTS

Marketing Research Report No. 1057





Agricultural Research Service
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
in cooperation with
Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station

Given the requirements of the Wholesome
Meat Act, as the 1967 revision of Federal Meat
Inspection Act is commonly called, the average
small meat processor has a choice of four
courses of action: remodeling his plant to qual-
ify for certification; building a new plant; con-
fining himself to custom (exempt) work; or go-
ing out of business.
If he chooses remodeling or new construc-
tion, he will need guidelines for his builder to
follow to assure that the plant will comply with
inspection requirements. The guidelines set up
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for large
packing plants do not meet all the needs of
smaller operators. This report presents supple-
mental guidelines and sample layouts that were
developed in a 2-year study, and assistance pro-
ject for small meat processors in Texas and
Oklahoma. The guidelines are generally appli-
cable to all states, and they conform to Federal
regulations.
Many small meat plants operating in Texas
and Oklahoma today were built at least 20 years
ago. Contractors and operators alike had little
experience with this type of construction and
relied on observation of existing facilities (often
inadequate) for guidance in developing their
plans. As a result, many plants were built to
poor designs, using inappropriate materials.
Such plants cannot meet the requirements for
processing meats under Federal or State in-
spection; they also may be uneconomical to op-
erate and create pollution problems (fig. 1).

1
Present address: Agricultural Research Service, P.
O. Box BC, College Station, Tex. 77840.
2 While no exact causal relationship has been estab-
lished, about 100 small meat processors in Oklahoma and
500 in Texas have gone out of business since the law went
into effect.
The more important deficiencies are
1. Poor sanitation resulting from
a. Use of porous materials such as fiber-
board, wood, and plasterboard for
walls; rough concrete and wood for
floors; and wood for work surfaces.
b. Inadequate water and sewage facilities.
c. Inadequate vermin control.
2. Inefficient plant layout.
a. Too little space.
b. Inconvenient workflow.
3. Pollution in the form of
a. Offensive odors.
b. High solid and liquid waste concentra-
tions discharged in ditches and streams.
4. Site problems.
a. Difficulty of access.
b. Inadequate parking space.
c. Lack of room for expansion.
The need of small operators for assistance
with plant design and layout has not gone totally
unrecognized. Some meat industry suppliers
have developed plans for purchasers of their
equipment, and for some operators this service
has been satisfactory. However, other operators
felt that suppliers were more interested in selling
hardware than providing efficient designs, and
they turned to other sources for help.
This study was undertaken after the Meat
Handling and Facilities Research group of Ag-
ricultural Research Service had received a num-
ber of requests from processors for assistance
with plant design and layout. About 60 small op-
erators were assisted over a 2-year period. Of
these, about 40 percent chose to remodel, and the
rest chose to build new plants. In addition, archi-
tects and builders were assisted in making plans
for their customers. The researchers made no at-
tempt to ascertain if any plan
LAYOUT GUIDE FOR SMALL MEAT PLANTS
PAGE 2
By Clayton F. Brasington, Jr., and Donald R. Hammonds, industrial engineers, Agricultural Research Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Stillwater, Okla.
1


PAGE 3
represented a sound investment. The project has
been evaluated, and the drawings and some of
the information derived from it are presented
here.
A small plant is defined as one that handles,
on the average, 5 to 100 head per week. It may
slaughter one or more species and may or may
not chill the carcasses before shipping. It may
slaughter only, fabricate only, or both; and it
may produce either wholesale or customer cuts
or both. It may freeze some of its production,
rent locker or bulk frozen storage space, smoke
some meats, and make sausage products. It may
operate full time or only part time (the latter
usually in conjunction with another business). It
may be located in an isolated rural spot or a
suburban shopping areaor even, in a few
cases, downtown (fig. 2). The number of em-
ployees may range from 1 or 2 part time to
more than 10 full time. Time spent in slaughter-
ing may vary from 2 to 5 days per week. If the
plant processes animals for sale, it must be in-
spected, either by State or Federal inspectors.
Designs suitable for large, medium, and
small packing plants obviously do not coincide
completely. The layouts and guidelines pre-
sented here are supplemental to, and include
certain departures from the material presented
in State and Federal handbooks. All such depar-
tures have been approved by the appropriate
inspection officials.
Material is included on items such as plant
site selection; plans for livestock holding pens,
slaughter floors, hide houses, and waste treat-
ment lagoon; plant layouts based on selected
volumes and types of operation; and tabular data
to aid in computing area requirements and equip-
ment sizes. No attempt has been made to cover
all acceptable variations of floor plans for vari-
ous plant operations.
The Federal Meat Inspection Act sets forth the
regulations governing meat inspection by the U.
S. Department of Agriculture. To assist oper-
ators, architects, and contractors in designing
plants to conform with the law, a Department
publication titled U.S. Inspected Meatpacking
Plants: A Guide to Construction, Equipment,
Layout (Agriculture Handbook No. 191) is
available for $2.65 from the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. 20402.

PLANT SITE SELECTION
Anyone interested in new plant facilities
should be aware of a number of important con-
siderations in site selection in addition to land
costs. Among the major factors are (1) customer
accessibility, (2) utility availability, (3) land ade-
quacy, (4) pollution potential, (5) zoning restric-
tions, and (6) meat inspection and health depart-
ment requirements.
The plant should be on an all-weather road, at
a location readily accessible to all customers. For
an operator who caters primarily to local cus-
tomers, a town side street where land costs are
relatively low may be a good location. An opera-
tor who has both local and out-of-town custom-
ers and wants to increase his volume
Figure 1. Small rural slaughter plant that discharged
liquid wastes and hog hair into a drainage ditch.
Figure 2. New slaughter plant in a business district.




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might advantageously build his plant on a well-
traveled highway in a suburban area.
A dependable electrical supply is essential to
plant operation. Natural gas, where available,
has been the cheapest fuel. Because of the ener-
gy crisis, however, gas-operated equipment
should not be purchased before verifying a de-
pendable source of supply and a favorable gas-
electricity cost relationship. Municipal water
and sewer services are generally more reliable
and cheaper than private wells and waste dis-
posal by septic tank or lagoon on the property.
Lack of one or more of these services could dis-
qualify an otherwise desirable location, and in
summary, it should always be determined if
adequate 220-volt electric service is available,
if existing gas lines or liquid petroleum gas
(LPG) dealers can supply the volume needed,
and if water and sewer lines are large enough to
handle the expected volume.
Trial layouts should be made to insure that the
proposed building and parking areas can be fit-
ted on the site, leaving space for future ex-
pansion. Wide driveways, ample off-street park-
ing for employee and customer vehicles, and
plenty of maneuvering space for vehicles around
the unloading and loading docks are essential.
Landscaping should not be neglected, especially
in town.
The plant site should have a low pollution fac-
tor; that is, be located in an area reasonably free
of objectionable odors, smoke, flying ash, dust,
and other pollutants (11)
3
. The land should be
well drained and not subject to flooding.
Municipal and county land use plans should
be checked for zoning restrictions before a site
for a new plant is purchased. If the property is
outside a zoned area, perhaps the appropriate
planning board should be requested to zone the
site and surrounding area for compatible
3
Italic numbers in parentheses refer to items in
Literature Cited, p.27
Figure 3. Plot plan for a small slaughter plant.
PAGE 4
industry so that an objectionable business can-
not be located nearby in the future.
The appropriate meat inspection and health
department authorities should be consulted as to
possible restrictions on the site. Since a plot
plan is required when the plant plans are sub-
mitted for approval, it would be helpful to have
the plot plan available for review at the first
meeting with the authorities (fig. 3).

PLANT LAYOUTS
To design an efficient plant, the requirements
for each component area and the interrelation-
ships of the areas must be determined before
tile layout is made. One important consideration
in designing a plant, and the one most likely to
be overlooked, is providing for possible future
expansion. The design should allow for easy
and economical expansion of areas such as the
hold cooler, freezer, and dry storage. If possi-
ble, permanent installations such as refrigera-
tion equipment, grease traps, water and sewer
lines, and holding pens should be located so
that they will not need to be relocated in case of
expansion (fig. 4).
To illustrate the development of plans, two
complete plant layouts based on hypothetical
volumes and types of operation are presented
and discussed.
The first layout (fig. 5) is for a plant that
slaughters livestock and produces a variety of
meat cuts. About 30 cattle and 30 hogs per
week are slaughtered. Hogs are skinned. Some
of the beef carcasses are aged in the hold cooler
for about a week before cutting. About 1,500
pounds of pork cuts are cured and smoked
weekly. The plant does custom processing and
also slaughters and sells carcass sides and quar-
ters, fresh meat cuts, and cured meats to cus-
tomers and to meat markets. The plant has 140
freezer lockers for rental, and space for 585
freezer baskets. Inedible offal is picked up
daily, and cattle hides are cured in a separate
building.
The plant operates under inspection because
of its sales to individual and wholesale custo-
mers.
The plant has 3,850 square feet of floor
space. Inside dimensions are based on 9-inch
exterior walls, 6-inch uninsulated interior walls,
and 12-inch insulated cooler and freezer walls.
The second layout (fig. 6) is for a plant that
does not slaughter. It receives beef and pork
carcasses and wholesale cuts, and produces cus-
tomer cuts. It grinds meats, forms patties, cures
and smokes pork cuts and sausages, and rents
freezer space to customers. About 25 beef car-
casses with an average dressed weight of 400
pounds and 20 pork carcasses with an average
dressed weight of 180 pounds are received and
processed each week. Some of the beef quarters
are aged about a week before processing. About
1,000 pounds of pork cuts are cured and smoked
each week. Sixty freezer lockers and 450 freezer
storage baskets are available for rental and tem-
porary storage. Meat is sold to both individual
and wholesale customers. Bones, fat, and inedi-
ble trimmings are picked up daily.
The plant operates under inspection. Custom-
slaughtered carcasses brought in for processing
are handled according to inspection regulations,
but identified as to ownership on receipt, kept
separate from inspected carcasses, and cut after
each days inspected meats are prepared and
packaged. Custom cured and smoked meats are
also handled separately from inspected meats.
This plant has 3,575 square feet of floor
space. Wall thicknesses are the same as for the
slaughter plant layout.
The various areas that comprise a complete
plant are discussed separately in the following
sections. In many cases, tabular data and scale
drawings are included, some based on facilities
now in use, and others, on research at existing
plants, Federal meat-inspection and related in-
dustry publications, and recommendations of
meat industry and equipment suppliers.
Figure 4. A freezer that can be expanded easily.
Note that the refrigeration equipment is located on the
roof
PAGE 5





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PAGE 6
Livestock Unloading and Holding

All the slaughter plants studied had a facility for
unloading livestock and holding them until
slaughter. Since animals are delivered in vehi-
cles with various bed heights, there is no opti-
mum dock height for unloading. To minimize
injuries to the livestock during unloading, a
plant should have either several chutes of dif-
ferent heights (fig. 7) or an adjustable-height
chute (fig. 8). Since most plants slaughter more
than one species, the fences in the hold area
should be capable of holding all species. From 2
to 6 pens should be ample since very few small
plants slaughter more than 15 cattle or 20 hogs a
day.
FIGURE 5.Layout for a slaughter plant. (1) Track scale, (2) 76 high rail, (3) packing table, (4) meat grinder,
(5) sink, (6) hot and cold water, (7) boning table, (8) bandsaw, (9) quarter dropper, (10) meat baskets, (11) meat
lockers, (12) ham-pump table, (13) smokehouse, (14) exhaust fan, (15) smoke room 8X10, (16) meat shelves,
(17) return products, (18) 11 high rail, (19) collapsible retaining cage, (20) water heater 180 F, (21) thermometer
in waterline, (22) paunch work table, (23) details on figure 11, (24) details on figure 9, (A) floor drain, (B) toilet,
(C) lavatory, (D) clothing locker, (E) shower, and (F) sterilizer.
PAGE 7
FIGURE 6.Layout for a nonslaughter plant. (1) Track scale, (2) 76 high rail, (3) return product, (4) meat shelves,
(5) meat baskets, (6) meat lockers, (7) quick freezer 8x8, (8) ham-pump table, (9) exhaust fan, (10) smokehouse, (11)
boning table, (12) bandsaw, (13) sink, (14) meat grinder, (15) patty machine, (16) packing table, (17) water heater 140
F, (A) floor drain, (B,) lavatory, (C) sterilizer, (D) hot and cold water, (E) thermometer in waterline, (F) toilet, and (G)
clothing locker.
An adjustable-height chute is recommended as the
most efficient way to handle livestock unloading from
all types and sizes of vehicles. One design for such a
chute is shown in figure 9. Once the chute floor is ad-
justed to the level of the vehicle bed, a retainer rod can
be placed under the chute floor to hold it during unload-
ing. A counterweight and cable arrangement can be
rigged for ease in lifting the vehicle end of the floor. The
floor should have an easy-to-clean, nonslip surface and
be about 2 feet wide and 8 feet long. The off end
can be pivoted on a concrete platform 1 foot high, 2
feet wide, and 4 feet long.
The holding area is also shown in figure 9. Unloaded
livestock are driven into an alley that opens into the sus-
pect pen, two hold pens, and the chute to the stun pen.
The alley has a block







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PAGE 8
gate to aid in moving animals into and out of pens and also
to divide the alley into two temporary hold pens when
needed. Next to the chute is an access door for workers.
The suspect pen has a 7-foot-long squeeze gate (for re-
straining an animal during ante-mortem inspection) and a
7-foot-wide alley gate. A removable water trough is pro-
vided for animals held overnight. The suspect pen can be
used as a hold pen after suspect animals have been re-
moved and the pen has been cleaned and disinfected.
The two hold pens have 4-foot-wide alley gates and
share a removable water trough. The 15-foot holding-pen
area will accommodate three 5-foot pens, if desired.
The chute leading from the alley to the slaughter floor
has a 3-foot-wide gate opening into the alley. This chute
can be used as a worker walk-
Figure 8. Adjustable unloading chute.
Figure 9. Adjustable-height unload-chute and hold-pen layout.






Photo deleted to reduce file size.

way or a pen to hold one animal for quick delivery
to the stun pen.
The capacity of the 2 hold pens, the suspect pen,
and the alley taken together is 16 cattle, 18 hogs, or
combination of the two, allowing 18 square feet
per head for cattle and 6 square feet per. head for
hogs (4). This hold-pen capacity and layout are
suggested for the slaughter plant shown in figure 5.
The unloading and holding area fences should
be built of durable easy-to-clean materials. Smooth
rounded edges reduce the chances for injury or
bruises to animals during handling. Rust-resistant
pipe is recommended for fencing, and slightly
rough concrete is recommended for the floor. To
control contamination, a concrete curb 12 inches
high under the fence between the suspect pen and
adjacent pen is suggested. A separate floor drain in
the suspect pen also is recommended. For washing
pen floors and filling water troughs, there is a frost
proof cold-water hose connection in one of the
holding pens. A shed roof over the entire area is
suggested to protect animals and workers from in-
clement weather (fig. 10).

Slaughter Floors

In the plants studied, slaughter floors fell into
two size classes. The smaller floors handle only 1
carcass at a time, and daily volume averages less
than 15 head. One butcher or a butcher and a
helper usually operate such a floor. If only a few
hogs are slaughtered or no pork is cured, all car-
casses are skinned. Plants that handle many hogs
or prepare much cured pork may remove the hair
from hogs, requiring floor area for a scald vat or
vat and dehairer.
The larger slaughter floors accommodate more
than one carcass at a time. Daily volume may ex-
ceed 30 carcasses, depending on crew size, species
and weight of animals handled, byproducts saved,
type and amount of equipment used, and room
size. At least two butchers and one or more help-
ers normally work on the larger floors. The factors
that apply to skinning and dehairing of hogs are as
previously listed.
The slaughter rate for workers on any floor is
limited by the space available, the kind and ar-
rangement of equipment, and the number of job-
related duties performed by the workers. One to 1
1/4 carcasses per man-hour is typical.
All slaughter floors have the same types of
equipment; however, the larger floor normally has
more and higher capacity equipment, to reduce
labor requirements and improve inspection proce-
dures.
Most floors are equipped with a stun pen, a
traveling electric hoist on an overhead I-beam, a
skinning cradle, a head-inspection rack, an over-
head dressing rail that extends to a carcass cooler,
a track scale to weigh carcasses hung on trolleys, a
carcass-splitting saw, one or more wash lavatories
and equipment sterilizers, and carcass washing
and cleanup hoses. If pork is cured, there may be a
scald vat or vat and dehairer. A viscera inspection
truck with an upper inspection pan for the pluck
and spleen and a lower pan for the viscera is
probably needed at most plants.

Small slaughter floorall carcasses skinned

The least space is needed for the slaughter floor
when all species are skinned (fig. 11). If the stun
pen is outside the slaughter floor, the 20-foot room
length shown in figure 11 can be reduced to about
15 feet; 18 feet is adequate if a stun pen with built-
in head restrainer is used. This type of stun pen
does not need an elevated walkway for the stun-
ner. The layout is drawn to scale, and the most im-
portant room dimensions and locations of some
equipment items are shown in the figure. The
slaughter floor shown in figure 11 is recom-
mended for the slaughter plant layout, since the
average daily volume should not exceed 15 head.
The livestock stun pen can be made up by the
plant builder (fig. 12) or purchased from an equip-
ment supplier (fig. 13). If it is homemade, smooth
metal should be used and all
PAGE 9
Figure 10. Covered hold pens. Note sturdy pipe fences.






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PAGE 10
Figure 11.Suggested layout for small slaughter floor
where all carcasses are skinned. (1) Carcass saw, (2)
saw sterilizer, (3) carcass lander, (4) track scale, (5)
viscera inspection truck, (6) inspection pan, (7) ther-
mometer, (8) hot and cold water, (9) lavatory, (10)
equipment sterilizer, (11) head inspection rack, (12)
portable skinning cradle, (13) hoist, (14) I-beam, and
(15) inedible container.
Figure 12. Stun pen constructed by the plant
builder.
Figure 13. Purchased stun pen with built-in head
restrainer.




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PAGE 11

welded joints ground smooth. The completed pen
should be coated with an approved nontoxic rust-
resistant finish.
The stunned-animal discharge door shown in
figure 11 is about 7 feet long and 2 feet high.
It is hinged to the stun pen frame along the top
edge. A counterweight with cables attached to the
door can be used to swing the door open when the
latch is released. Since this size of slaughter floor
does not have a safety fence around the dry-land
area, a restraining device such as a galvanized neck
chain is needed to prevent improperly stunned ani-
mals from escaping when discharged from the stun
pen. A closely spaced pipe or solid-metal vertical
sliding gate is needed at the entrance to the stun
pen.
A penetrating or nonpenetrating captive head or
similar stunner must be employed to render live-
stock unconscious if head and cheek meat is to be
saved. The brain can be saved only when it is not
damaged by the stunning device. A blank cartridge
powers most stunners. So that the worker can be
above the animal when he stuns it, an elevated
walkway about 2 feet wide and 2 feet above the
room floor is recommended. A solid masonry or
pipe wall about 6 feet high can be used to separate
the stun pen from the elevated walkway (fig. 14).
A space about 2 feet wide and 3 feet deep be-
tween the entrance gate to the stun pen and the
slaughter floor wall allows a worker to go from
the slaughter floor directly to the outside chute
pen or to the stunners walkway. A gate between
the room wall and stun pen prevents animals from
entering the slaughter floor when they are driven
into the stun pen. A solid rust-resistant metal door
in the room wall can prevent an animal from en-
tering the stun pen ahead of time and also keep out
inclement weather, insects, and rodents.
An electric exhaust fan in one wall will help
ventilate the room as required. The fan opening
should be screened and equipped with shutters that
open only when the fan is on.
An electric hoist attached to tandem trolleys
and hung on an I-beam is suggested to hoist the
stunned carcass for bleeding, transfer the carcass
to the skinning cradle, and transfer the partially
skinned carcass to the overhead dressing rail (fig.
15). The hoist also has a minimum lifting speed of
16 feet per minute (preferably 32 feet) and enough
power to drag a crippled animal from a vehicle
outside to the slaughter area. A 2,000-pound ca-
pacity is necessary if mature cattle are slaugh-
tered; a 1,000-pound-capacity hoist will do if only
light calves and hogs are slaughtered.
The size of the traveling-hoist I-beam de-
Figure 14. Elevated stunners walkway. The door in the
background opens into the hold-pen area.
Figure 15. Traveling electric chain hoist for han-
dling a carcass during slaughter operations.




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PAGE 12
pends on the type of support provided and the
weight of the hoist and livestock slaughtered. If a
2,000-pound-capacity traveling hoist is needed, it
is recommended that an American standard I-beam
be used with either a 6-inch web supported every
10 feet or an 8-inch web supported every 17 feet.
For a 1,000-pound-capacity hoist, a 5-inch web
supported every 11 feet is suggested. Most trolley
wheels can be adjusted to operate on an I-beam
flange from 5 to 12 inches wide.
A portable skinning cradle is preferred on this
size of slaughter floor so that it can be moved out
of the way when not in use. It can be purchased
from an equipment supplier or made of metal tub-
ing, coated with an approved finish after welding,
and mounted on castors equipped with brakes. The
minimum recommended cradle height is 12 inches;
tubing diameter should be 1 to 2 inches. The cra-
dle length can range from 5 to 8 feet, depending on
need. The distance between the two parallel tubes
that support the carcass on its back should be ad-
justable from about 8 to 14 inches so that all car-
cass sizes can be handled.
After a carcass is skinned, eviscerated, and split
(sawed) into two sides, a single-rail lander is most
efficient for transferring the carcass from the
spreader to the overhead rail. Unless a lander is
used, a worker either has to stand on a platform or
ladder and manually guide the carcass on the
spreader to two trolleys he has placed on the over-
head rail or he has to stand on the floor and use a
roller pole to place trolleys on the rail and steady
each trolley during carcass transfer. Both of these
latter methods are unsatisfactory.
The overhead rail should be 3/8- by 2-inch,
high-quality, hot-rolled steel. It should not be
painted after installation. Galvanized rails are not
recommended because the trolley wheels can flake
the metal coating off the rail onto the carcass meat.
To prevent rust, an approved food-grade oil should
be applied to the rail each time it is cleaned. Either
10- or 12-inch-long track hangers on approxi-
mately 30-inch centers can be used to suspend the
rail from ceiling supports, wood or steel beams
supported by the room walls, or a separate wood or
metal framework. The suggested figures for com-
puting load per linear foot of overhead rail, includ-
ing a safety factor, are 1,000 pounds for large
bulls, 575 pounds for average-weight cattle, and
400 pounds for lightweight calves and hogs.
A track scale with beam weight indicator is rec-
ommended since it can be just as accurate as the
dial type and costs about one-half as much. The
vertical distance between the top of the rail and
the lowest part of the supporting beams over the
scale determines if a deep- or shallow-pattern
scale is used. For the deep-pattern scale, a clear-
ance of at least 20 inches is required; the shallow
pattern must be used if clearance is less than 20
inches. The selection of scale capacity and weight
graduations should be based on the type of live-
stock slaughtered.
A wall-mounted head inspection rack is located
in one corner of the room (fig. 16). If a hook is
provided on the lower crossbar of the head rack,
the carcass head can be suspended on it for wash-
ing prior to display on the inspection rack (10).
The head loop and hook should be stainless steel.
After inspection, the tongue, head, and cheek meat
can be removed while the head is still on the loop
(10).
Two floor drains are suggested for the slaughter
floor to localize the flow of waste water, so that
some cleaning can be done while a carcass is be-
ing dressed. Packinghouse-type cast-iron floor
drains with removable covers are preferred. A
combination blood and water floor drain is needed
in the bleed area if blood is to be drained into a
tank or vat.
The interior walls, floor, and ceiling should be
carefully installed by competent workers. Plumb
smooth walls, an uncluttered ceiling, and an
evenly sloped floor are easier to clean and main-
tain in sanitary condition. Durable flooring such as
concrete, ceramic floor tile, floor brick, or other
approved materials must be used. A too smooth
floor must be avoided since it can be slick when
wet and create a safety problem and reduced effi-
ciency. The authors have seen workers lose their
footing and, in general, perform their jobs more
slowly and cautiously because of slippery condi-
tions. On the other hand, if the floor surface is too
rough, it is impossible to clean properly.
Some recommended wall finishes are glazed
brick or tile, smooth-surface portland cement plas-
ter, and paneling of such materials as non-toxic
rust-resistant metal or fiberglass, and plastic. Ceil-
ing finishes include the cement plaster, the panels
listed for walls, and large-
PAGE 13
size cement-asbestos boards. The surface of the
wall and ceiling should not be painted since most
paints crack and peel after a relatively short expo-
sure to high humidity and frequent cleaning. The
cove at the junction of floor and walls should have
at least a inch radius for easy cleaning. Cove
edges should be flush with the finish surface of the
adjacent wall or floor.
Small slaughter floorcattle skinned, hogs
scalded and dehaired

A layout for a one-at-a-time slaughter floor
equipped with a hog scald vat and dehairer is shown
in figure 17. The only major change from the previ-
ous layout is the addition of the scald vat and
dehairer. A one-hog scald vat with thermostatic
control for water temperature is recommended; it
should have a drain at one end and be made of ap-
proved nontoxic rust-resistant materials (fig. 18).
Before the decision is made to install a hog scald
vat and dehairer, the operator should try to deter-
mine if the profit from this investment would justify
it. Some factors to be considered are (1) the differ-
ence in the selling price of dehaired and skinned
carcasses, (2) the effect on volume handled if only
skinned hog carcasses are produced, (3) the cost for
additional floor space, and (4) the cost of owning
and operating the equipment.
This discussion is limited to the fourth factor
Figure 16. Head wash and inspection cabinet.
Figure 17.Suggested layout for small slaughter floor
where cattle are skinned and hogs are scalded and
dehaired. (1) Carcass saw, (2) saw sterilizer,
(3) carcass lander, (4) track scale, (5) viscera in-
spection truck, (6) inspection pan, (7) thermome-
ter, (8) hot and cold water, (9) lavatory, (10) equip-
ment sterilizer, (11) head inspection rack, (12)
portable skinning cradle, (13) hoist, (14) I-beam,
(15) inedible container, ( 16) dehairer, and
(17) scald vat.







Photo deleted to reduce file size.
PAGE 14






Photo deleted to reduce file size.
Figure 18. Hog scald vat and dehairer in a small plant.
Scald vat, 1-hog
52 slaughter days:
520 head $936.25 $148.84 $75.19 $224.03 43.08
780 head 936.25 148.84 75.40 224.24 28.75
104 slaughter days:
1,140 head 936.25 148.84 127.28 276.12 26.55
1,300 head 936.25 148.84 127.49 276.33 21.26
1,560 head 936.25 148.84 127.70 276.54 17.73
156 slaughter days:
1,820 head 936.25 148.84 179.58 328.42 18.05
2,080 head 936.25 148.84 179.78 328.62 15.80
Dehairer:
52 slaughter days:
520 head 1,576.50 250.26 32.08 282.34 54.30
780 head 1,576.50 250.26 39.21 289.47 37.11
104 slaughter days:
1,040 head 1,576.50 250.26 57.25 307.51 29.57
1,300 head 1,576.50 250.26 64.18 314.44 24.19
1,560 head 1,576.50 250.26 71.20 321.46 20.61
156 slaughter days:
1,820 head 1,576.50 250.26 89.53 339.79 18.67
2,080 head 1,576.50 250.26 96.46 346.72 16.67
Equipment
slaughter schedule
and annual volume
Total
installed
Cost
1

Annual cost

Ownership
2
Operation
3
Total
Cents
per
hog
Table 1. Equipment ownership and operating costs for a scald vat and a dehairer for selected
hog slaughter schedules and annual volumes.

1
Includes the 1974 purchase price plus an allowance for shipping 500 miles and for installing the equipment in the
plant.

2
Includes depreciation based on an expected life of 12 years computed using the straight-line method with a salvage
value equal to 10 percent of the purchase price; interest on investment based on 8 percent of one-half of the installed
cost; and insurance and taxes based on 4 percent of the installed cost (9).

3
Includes utilities based on water at 0.08 cent per gallon, natural gas at 0.10 cent per cubic foot, and electricity at 2.45
cents per kilowatt-hour; and maintenance for the scald vat estimated at 3 percent of the purchase price and for the
dehairer based on an assumed life of 2,000 hours for the electric motor and 48,000 hogs for the scraper paddles.
since the operator should be able to answer the first two
and the builder can estimate the floor space costs. The
estimated total annual cost and per-hog cost to own and
operate a scald vat and dehairer for selected slaughter
schedules and annual volumes are shown in table 1.
When hogs are slaughtered, scalded, and dehaired on 1
day each week and the average weekly number is 10
head (520 head per year), the total equipment cost per
hog is about $0.97. Approximately 79 percent of the
$0.97 is ownership cost and 21 percent is operating
cost. If hog slaughter is scheduled 3 days each week
and about 40 head are handled a week (2,080 head per
year), the equipment cost per hog is about $0.32. With 3
slaughter days per week and a larger volume, ownership
cost is reduced to approximately 59 percent of the total
cost per hog. Ownership
PAGE 15
costs are classified as fixed costs and include de-
preciation, interest on investment, and insurance
and taxes. Operating costs are variable, and as the
number of days used increases, they also increase,
but at a decreasing rate. Operating costs include
utility charges for water, gas, and electricity, and
maintenance of the equipment in good working
order. No allowance is made in table 1 for labor
costs for workers attending the two machines,
waiting while hogs are scalded and dehaired, or
cleaning the equipment at the end of the day. Nor
are building costs included in the table.

Large slaughter floorall carcasses skinned

Figure 19 shows a suggested layout for a multiple-
head slaughter floor and a portion of the inedible-
offal room. The offal room section is shown to
locate a paunch-truck sterilizing area and the hose
connection for 180 F water, required for steriliz-
ing paunch trucks and for cleaning the slaughter
floor when a carcass is condemned (11).
Meat inspection officials probably would limit
this floor to three carcasses at a time, since only
three carcass heads can be identified at one time
with the carcasses being dressed. The carcass
heads are located in a single-head flush cabinet
and on two head-inspection loops.
The room shape, size, and equipment arrange-
ment are planned for efficient operation with ei-
ther a large or small work crew. A ceiling height
of at least 17 feet is recommended for the entire
floor, since the I-beam for the traveling hoist over
the dry-land, bleed, and skin areas and the support
for the fixed hoist at the carcass lander require a
16 foot vertical clearance (11).

FIGURE 19.Suggested layout for slaughter floor handling more than one head at a time, where all carcasses are
skinned. (1) Carcass saw, (2) saw sterilizer, (3) carcass lander, (4) track scale, (5) viscera inspection truck, (6) inspec-
tion pan, (7) thermometer, (8) hot and cold water, (9) lavatory, (10) equipment sterilizer, (11) head inspection loops,
(12) skinning cradle, (13) hoist, (14) I-beam 16 high, (15) inedible container, (16) head flush cabinet, (17) blood and
water drain, and (18) safety fence.











Photo deleted to reduce file size.
PAGE 16
Curbs are used around the dryland and bleed
areas and the carcass saw and wash area to allow for
each floor area to be washed and drained separately.
They may be concrete, about 6 inches wide and 6
inches high (fig. 20) . The curb between the dry-land
and bleed areas should have a safety fence to prevent
improperly stunned animals from leaving the dry
land area. The safety fence may be made of 2-inch
pipes spaced 16 inches apart, and extending about 48
inches above the curb (11).
A few pieces of equipment beyond those needed
on the smaller floors have been added to create more
work areas for improved efficiency. For example, by
adding a separate head inspection table with head
loops, the head flush cabinet is freed for washing
heads only and need not be used as an inspection
cabinet. A fixed hoist is provided to transfer the par-
tially skinned carcass to the half-hoist area where the
rump and back are skinned and the carcass is evis-
cerated. The carcass is landed on the dressing rail by
this hoist.
Three hot and cold water hose connections are
provided to increase wash down efficiency during
slaughter. One of these is for cleaning the dry-land,
bleed, and skin areas; another, to hose down the
half-hoist area; and the third, to wash carcasses.

Meat Coolers
Most slaughter plants have a chill cooler for re-
moving the body heat from freshly slaughtered car-
casses and a hold or sales cooler to store carcasses
until they are processed or sold. A few small-
volume plants chill and store carcasses in the same
cooler. None of the small plants studied had a sepa-
rate edible byproducts cooler; these items are usu-
ally hung on trolley trees in the carcass coolers.
Meat plants that dont slaughter have a cooler for
storing fresh carcasses. Plants may also have part of
a cooler or a separate one for game and custom-
slaughtered carcasses (fig. 21). Both slaughter and
nonslaughter plants have a cure cooler if they handle
enough volume to justify one.
Efficient coolers require insulation in floors,
walls, and ceilings. A good vapor barrier on the
warm side of the insulation helps prevent moisture
migration, which would reduce the insulations effi-
ciency (fig. 22).
Refrigeration capacity should be based on the to-
tal load under peak conditions. Self-contained or re-
mote refrigeration systems are used in these plants.
A self-contained system combines the condensing
unit and refrigeration coil in a single unit. It can be
mounted through an outside cooler wall or through
the roof above the cooler. In a remote system the
coil is mounted in the








Photo deleted to reduce file size.

Figure 20. Dry-land area in a plant. The stun pen door
and chain hoist hook and control are visible in the back-
ground
Figure 21. Deer and custom-slaughtered carcasses in a
meat cooler.
PAGE 17
cooler and the condenser is installed at another loca-
tion (fig. 23).
The interior finish should be smooth and easily
cleanable; the materials described for the slaughter
floors are suitable for coolers also.
Overhead storage rails should be so arranged and
carcass coolers, particularly chill coolers, should
provide enough space that carcass sides or quarters
do not touch. Rails must be far enough apart for a
rail of carcass items to be moved easily between two
adjacent parallel rails of stored items. Adequate
space between the top of the overhead rails and the
ceiling improves air circulation throughout the
cooler. In most small coolers, a vertical distance of
about 2 feet is ample to accommodate rail hangers,
hanger support beams, and air circulation. The num-
ber of carcasses placed in the cooler, species han-
dled, average dressed weight, and typical carcass
unit (side, quarter, or cut) influence the space re-
quirements. Suggested space allocations for plan-
ning rail-equipped coolers are shown in table 2.

Carcass chill cooler

The type of refrigeration provided for chilling can
have a direct effect on the condition and shrinkage
rate of carcasses. Most authorities on refrigeration
equipment recommend an optimum cooler tempera-
ture of about 32 to 34 F, relative humidity of 90 to
95 percent, room air temperature 10 F higher than
the surface of the refrigeration coils, and a per-hour
air circu-
Figure 22. Suggested method for constructing refrigerated
room walls and floor.
Table 2. Space allocations for planning overhead rail layouts in carcass chill and hold coolers, by
cooler, species, and carcass unit.
PAGE 18
lation rate about 60 to 100 times the room volume,
to prevent formation of surface slime on carcasses
and minimize shrinkage (2, 3)
The slaughter plant layout in figure 5 allows
about 32 feet of overhead rail for chilling carcass
sides. This will hold 16 beef carcasses at dressed
weights up to 400 pounds, 12 beef carcasses at
dressed weights up to 600 pounds, or 24 hog car-
casses (table 2). A carcass-retaining cage is located
in one corner; it can be folded against the walls
when not in use.

Carcass hold cooler

The refrigeration equipment in most hold or sales
coolers reduces the average internal temperature of
chilled carcasses placed in them about 10 F to the
optimum storage temperature, 33 to 35 F (3). To
avoid excessive shrinkage during storage, 6 to 12 air
changes per hour are needed (2) . The relative hu-
midity and difference between room-air and coil-
surface temperatures recommended for this cooler
are the same for the chill cooler (3).
The slaughter plant layout in figure 5 has a hold
cooler with about 65 feet of overhead rail for storing
carcass sides. About 32 beef carcasses weighing up
to 600 pounds dressed or 55 hog carcasses or any
combination of the two species can be held at one
time (table 2). Along one wall, 10 feet is provided
for shelving for small cuts and for holding returned
products.
The nonslaughter plant layout in figure 6 allows
about 77 feet of overhead storage rail in the hold
cooler. About 19 quartered beef carcasses weighing
up to 600 pounds dressed, 33 quartered pork car-
casses, or any combination of the two species can be
held at one time (table 2). Eleven feet of wall space
is provided for shelf storage of small meat cuts and
holding returned products.

Cure cooler

Cure coolers are used to hold products while they
are in cure and to store cured and smoked products
until they are sold. Cure work also can be performed
in this cooler. Since most products are stored for
only a short period, the recommended cooler condi-
tions are as follows: temperature, between 38 to
40 F; relative humidity, about 80 percent; and an
air circulation rate providing three to four changes
per hour.
A typical cure cooler contains several cure vats or
wheeled tub trucks, stationary or wheeled racks for
hanging products, and shelves along wall to hold
products until they are sold. It is difficult to relate
floor space requirements to volume prepared, since
many different procedures and types of equipment
are used for curing and storage. However, cure vats
that will hold about 500 pounds require about 14
square feet of floor space, and about 500 pounds of
cured products can be hung on stationary or wheeled
racks occupying about 12 square feet.
A combined cure cooler and cure workroom is
provided in the slaughter and nonslaughter plant lay-
outs, shown in figures 5 and 6, because of their rela-
tively small volume. The room is equipped with a
ham-pump table, cure storage tank and pump, lava-
tory, knife and smallsaw sterilizer, and several
large containers or trucks. The hams and bacon sides
are cut and trimmed in the fabrication room. If all
meats are placed in dry cure, they can be held on
stainless steel shelves or movable racks along the
walls, and the containers or trucks are not needed.
Meats in dry cure lose moisture, and drain pans may
be required between shelves.

Meat Freezer

Nearly all plants have a freezer for packaged
meats. Some plants freeze the packaged meats in a
separate quick freezer or a special compartment in
the storage freezer and the next day







Photo deleted to reduce file size.
Figure 23. Remote refrigeration system.
PAGE 19
transfer them to storage in customer containers.
Other plants freeze and store in the same freezer and
do not rehandle packages until the customer takes
them. The average time frozen meats are stored de-
pends on the facilities available. Plants with freezers
that will hold about a weeks production require
their customers to pick up orders soon after they are
frozen; those with large freezers often provide lock-
ers, baskets, or bulk storage for rent on monthly or
yearly contracts.
To obtain maximum frozen-storage life and mini-
mize shrinkakge, most refrigeration authorities rec-
ommend an optimum quick freezer temperature
of 10 to 20 F, relative humidity of 85 to 90
percent, a temperature difference between room air
and refrigerant coil surface of 10 to 15 F, and a
circulation rate of at least one to two air changes per
hour.
Storage freezers should hold a temperature of
0 F or below, a relative humidity and temperature
difference the same as for the quick freezer, and an
air circulation rate of two to three air changes per
hour.
The best possible storage life of meat products is
obtained by freezing them as fast as possible. Drip
loss (moisture lost during freezing) in meats gener-
ally increases with slower freezing and in storage at
temperatures above 0 F. Other factors that affect
drip loss are duration of storage, amount of unfilled
space in the package, quality of package moisture
barriers, product surface area, and partial thawing
and refreezing (3).
Freezer storage space requirements depend on the
type or combination of types provided. In a number
of the plants studied, the weight of packaged meats
stored in lockers ranged from 25 to 35 pounds per
cubic foot because packages were of odd sizes and
shapes and could not be packed tightly. An average
of 30 pounds of meat products per cubic foot is as-
sumed for computing locker capacities. Since the
average locker contains about 6 cubic feet of storage
space, an allowance per locker of 180 pounds is rea-
sonable. Most lockers are about 24 inches wide and
30 inches deep, and if they are stacked five high,
900 pounds can be stored in a 5-square-foot area.
This is the equivalent of 180 pounds per square foot
of floor space.
Storage racks for wire baskets are also used for
customer orders. The racks are made of vertical
metal posts with horizontal cleats to hold the bas-
kets. Several basket sizes are used, the most popular
one being about 17 inches wide by 28 inches long
by 5 inches high and holding 45 pounds of product.
If the racks are 8 feet high, 15 baskets or 675 pounds
can be stored in an area about 18 inches wide and 29
inches deep (186 pounds per square foot).
Some plants have four or five tiers of metal or
wooden shelving about 2 feet wide around the walls
of the freezer for storing packaged products, with
the top shelf about 5 feet above the floor. The stor-
age capacity per square foot of floor space depends
on the number of shelves and the average weight of
product per square foot of shelf. About 100 pounds
of product per square foot of floor space probably
would be average for shelf storage.
Meat freezers need well-insulated walls, floor,
and ceiling. On the warm side of the insulation, a
good vapor barrier is necessary to prevent reduction
of insulation efficiency owing to moisture buildup.
The floor should be above ground or designed so as
to prevent buckling caused by formation of ice un-
der the floor. For good air circulation, space is
needed between the stored product and ceiling,
walls, and floor. Aisles at least 3 feet wide are rec-
ommended, and they should not be used for over-
flow storage.
The freezer in the slaughter plant layout in figure
5 is located in one corner of the building so that it
can be enlarged without changing product flow in
the plant and without any other remodeling within
tile building. A ceiling height of at least 9 feet is
suggested to insure adequate air circulation above
the lockers and baskets. A separate quick freeze
room or compartment is not shown, but could be ac-
commodated by reducing the number of lockers and
baskets in the room. The maximum capacity of the
freezer is 51,525 pounds. Since customers are al-
lowed to visit their lockers at most plants, a second
door for this purpose opens into the office and sales
area (inspection does not allow customers inside the
fabrication room, 11). To prevent pilferage from the
basket storage, a partition with a locked gate or door
should be placed between the locker and basket stor-
age areas.
The nonslaughter plant freezer shown in figure 6
is also easy to expand. It has two doors, one leading
to the salesroom and the other to the quick freeze
room. The quick freeze room will hold 12 freezer
carts loaded with 7 baskets each, for a total of 3,780
pounds. The holding freezer
PAGE 20
has a capacity of 31,050 pounds when all lockers
and baskets are full. If customers are allowed to visit
their lockers, a partition with a locked gate or door
should be placed between the locker area and basket
area.

Fabrication Room

Primal cuts, quarters, sides, and whole carcasses
are moved from the coolers to the fabrication room,
where customer cuts are prepared (fig. 24). The cus-
tomer cuts include bone-in and boneless steaks,
chops, and roasts; bulk ground meats and patties;
sliced bacon; fresh sausages; and tenderized cuts.
After meat cuts are packaged, weighed, and labeled,
they are placed in the freezer.

The room should be well insulated and re-
frigerated to control bacterial growth. Many authori-
ties recommend a room temperature between 45
and 50 F, a relative humidity from 45 to 50 percent,
a room air temperature about 20 F higher than the
surface of the refrigeration coils, and an air circula-
tion rate of about 6 to 10 changes per hour as opti-
mum conditions for both product protection and
worker comfort.
Fabrication room space requirements are de-
termined by average daily volume handled, space
needed for equipment and workers, aisles for mov-
ing and holding products, and an allowance for flexi-
bility in product preparation. Average daily volume
handled is the major factor that determines the num-
ber of workers in the room. Research results show
that a worker can prepare or package from 600 to
1,200 pounds of carcass meats in an 8-hour day.
Preparation includes selecting meat cuts in the
cooler, transporting these cuts to the work area, and
cutting customer meats. Grinding, weighing, wrap-
ping, labeling, moving, and placing products in the
freezer are jobs generally performed by workers
who package meats.
Plants with lower daily output often have workers
performing many peripheral duties such as obtaining
packing supplies, serving customers, removing
products from the freezer for customers, and plant
cleaning.
Space requirements for equipment are based on
the items required to produce the customer cuts and
the daily volume prepared. If a plant prepares only
bone-in and boneless meat cuts and bulk ground
meat, the equipment needed is a fabrication table,
bandsaw, meat grinder, slicer, scale, package table,
sink, small-tool sterilizer, and lavatory. A worker
should be provided with at least 4 feet of space
along each fabrication table and 3 feet along each
package table. For trimming smaller bone-in primal
cuts and sawing steaks and chops efficiently, the
band-saw should have at least a 1-horsepower mo-
tor.
Meat grinders generally produce ground product
at less than the manufacturers rated capacity, since
the worker hand-blends the meat before placing it in
the grinder head and tries to minimize product heat-
ing by not overloading the grinder head. Some re-
lated research on grinding meats indicates that a
worker can blend, coarse-grind, change plates, and
fine-grind 200 pounds of meat trimmings in about
24 minutes with a 5-horsepower grinder and in
about 22 minutes with a 7-horsepower grinder (5).
The temperature of the meat, size of the trimmings,
condition of the grinder knife and plate, and ability
of the worker to keep the grinder heat adequately
supplied with meat directly affect the rate of produc-
tion with any size of meat grinder.
Aisles must be wide enough to permit the move-
ment of products to and from the work stations and
to provide ample space for temporary storage of
meat carts, freezer baskets, and offal containers.
Aisles should be wide enough at cooler, freezer, and
other doorways to permit workers to remain at their
work stations when the doors are opened behind
them. When overhead rails for carcass transport are
located in aisles, the aisles must be at least 5 feet
wide (11).
Many plant owners have found that lack of a few
square feet of extra floor space has prevent-
Figure 24. Fabrication room.
PAGE 21
ed them from hiring extra workers during peak vol-
ume periods, adding new equipment such as meat
mixers and sausage stuffers for new products, or re-
placing tabletop equipment with larger floor units.
Because this is a common occurrence, it is recom-
mended that at least one extra workspace be pro-
vided over and above what is needed at the fabrica-
tion and package tables, and that about 6 square feet
of floor-space be reserved for future addition of
equipment.
The fabrication room of the slaughter plant shown
in figure 5 is located in about the center of the build-
ing, convenient to all storage and work areas. In this
room, the ceiling should be at least 10 feet high ex-
cept in the area in front of the hold cooler; in an area
about 6 feet wide and 12 feet long, it should be at
least 12 feet high to permit the 11-foot-high cooler
rail to extend into the room and to provide space for
a quarter dropper. The quarter dropper lowers a
hindquarter from an 11-foot-high rail to a 7-foot-
high rail.
If the plant volume increases, the fabrication
room is large enough for equipment and workspace
for four meatcutters, a bandsaw operator, a meat
grinder and package worker, and four full-time
package workers. With 10 full-time employees,
about 4,500 pounds of product can be prepared and
packaged daily, based on an average production of
around 900 pounds per worker. This represents a 29-
percent increase above the design volume of about
3,480 pounds per day. In calculating daily volume,
the average dressed weight assumed for cattle car-
casses is 400 pounds, and for hog carcasses, 180
pounds. The 1,500 pounds of pork placed in cure
and smoked weekly is handled by other workers.
The nonslaughter plant fabrication room in figure
6 is located similarly to the one on the slaughter
plant layout. Except for the addition of a patty ma-
chine, this layout has the same major equipment
items as the slaughter plant.
Adequate workspace is provided for up to 10 part-
time or full-time workers. To handle the assumed
daily volume of about 2,720 pounds, the equivalent
of six full-time employees is needed, based on the
average daily production of 900 pounds per worker.

Cure Room

Plants that handle a significant number of hogs also
may cure hams, bacon, specialty cuts, and sausages.
Since the cure ingredients can adversely affect the
quality of fresh meats, plants have a separate room
for placing meats in cure. Here, the cure solution is
prepared and pumped into hams and shoulders, and
hams, shoulders, bacon, and specialty cuts are either
rubbed with dry cure and place in vats or on shelves
or are placed in vats filled with the cure solution.
It is recommended that the cure room be insu-
lated, refrigerated to about 40 F, and built much
like the fabrication room.
The space requirements can vary depending on
the volume prepared and the amount of equipment
needed. The room should be large enough for a
cure-pump table, a supply of cure solution, a cart-
load of meat items to be placed in cure, one or more
cure vats or tubs, lavatory, a small-tool sterilizer,
workspace for one or more employees, and suffi-
cient aisle space for moving products into and out of
the room (fig. 25).
Stainless steel is recommended for most equip-
ment, since it is very durable and does not corrode
when exposed to cure ingredients. Some plastic
equipment has been approved for curing work and,
if handled properly, can last indefinitely.
Some plant operators place the cure workroom in
cure cooler since cure work often is done only part
time. This scheme reduces the number of rooms, the
floor space requirements, and total product handling.
The temperature of the combined cure workroom
and cooler should he the same as for the cure cooler.
Figure 25. Cure-pump table.
PAGE 22
Smoke Room

Plants that cure meats generally have a separate
room for one or more smokehouses. This room can
also be used for rendering lard, cooking chili, and
the like.
Smoke rooms are not refrigerated. Smokehouses
must be vented to the outside and if other cooking
equipment, such as a chili kettle, is used, it should
have a hood and also be vented to the outside (11).
An exhaust fan is recommended to remove excess
heat and smoke from the room. The type of con-
struction and materials used are the same as for the
slaughter floor.
The floor space required in addition to that
needed for the smokehouses and cooking equipment
is limited. Enough clearance to open the smoke-
house doors, space around the equipment to service
and clean it, floor space along a wall to wash prod-
ucts removed from the smokehouses, and aisles to
transport products are all that is required.
Four types of smokehouse equipment are used in
these plants: (1) cages suspended from an overhead
rail, (2) four-wheel trucks, (3) individually placed
sticks, and (4) ceiling hooks for hanging products.
Capacity of smokehouses for cages on overhead rails
or for four-wheel trucks is typically from one to six
loaded units. An average load for a cage or truck is
400 to 500 pounds. For sticks, the capacity depends
on the type of smokehouse and dimensions of the
smoke area. One popular cabinet-type smokehouse,
with burners in the bottom, will hold about 300
pounds on sticks. A similar larger unit holds up to
450 pounds (fig. 26). Smokehouses with ceiling
hooks usually are designed and built by the plant op-
erator and their capacity depends on the size of the
smoke area and how the products are spaced.
A smokehouse with a capacity between 400 and
500 pounds is recommended for the plant layouts in
figures 5 and 6. The smoke room for these plants
should also be equipped with hot-and cold-water
hose connections and an exhaust fan.

Dry Storage Room

Packaging supplies, spare parts, extra equipment,
and related items are stored in this room. Many
plants have less than 100 square feet of floor space
available for dry storageoften not enough to main-
tain an adequate inventory and have had to build
or rent additional storage space.
Dry storage rooms need to be well built to protect
the contents from dampness and airborne dirt, to
prevent the entrance of insects and rodents, and to
facilitate good housekeeping. Concrete floors and
concrete block or rust-resistant metal walls are typi-
cal materials used for these rooms. While metal stor-
age racks, shelves, and pallets are preferred, wood
can be used if it is kept in good repair and is easily
cleanable. To allow for floor cleaning under stored
items, all storage racks should be raised at least 12
inches above the floor (11).
The dry storage rooms shown in the plant layouts
are located conveniently to the receiving area and
the fabrication room, where most of the supplies are
used. The water heater is located in one corner of
the room in the non-
Figure 26. A smokehouse that holds about 450 pounds.
This smokehouse is an exempt plant. In an inspected
plant, at least a 12-inch clearance is required between the
smokehouse and the building walls and floor except
when the smokehouse is sealed to walls and floor.
PAGE 23
slaughter plant layout, close to the areas where most
of the hot water is used.

Spice Room

Plants that make sausages, cured meats, or meat
products containing binders or extenders need an in-
gredient storage area. If only pre-weighed packages
of ingredients are used, shelf space set aside for
these packages in the dry storage room is adequate.
A separate spice room is suggested when ingredients
are purchased in bulk and are measured, weighed, or
mixed prior to use.
The room should be well constructed to keel out
dampness, dirt, and insects, and be easy to clean. In-
gredients must be stored at least 12 inches above the
floor on either metal racks, shelves, or pallets, or on
wooden ones if they are kept in good repair and are
easily cleanable (11).
In addition to storage space, the room needs a ta-
ble, scales, and measuring and mixing equipment.
The spice room location in the slaughter plant lay-
out is not as convenient to the cure work area as the
one shown for the nonslaughter plant. This relatively
distant location is acceptable, however, since the
cure worker should be able to obtain all the ingredi-
ents needed for a days operation in one trip.

Offal Room

An offal room in a small meat plant is used to
store inedible byproducts temporarily. In slaughter
plants, viscera, feet, condemned parts, bones, excess
fat, and other items not for human consumption are
stored in this room. If hides are sold green or if
blood is caught during bleeding, these containers
may also be stored in the offal room. Plants that do
no slaughter need an offal room for containers of
bones, fat, and inedible trimmings. In some in-
stances (because of small volume or reliable, fre-
quent pickup) meat inspection may not require an
offal room (10).
If offal is not picked up daily, the room should be
artificially cooled to about 40 F.
In low-volume plants, the offal room is used al-
most entirely for the storage of inedible byproduct
containers. Larger plants that slaughter more than
one head at a time may have a paunch worktable and
paunch truck wash and sterilize area in the offal
room in addition to tile containers. The smallest
practical paunch worktable is about 4 by 9 feet. A
paunch truck wash and sterilize area requires a space
about 7 by 8 feet (11).
The amount of floor space needed to store by-
product containers can be determined roughly if the
approximate amounts of byproducts to be
1
Barrels used for the stomach contents and blood are considered full in most plants when within 2/3 to 3/4 ca-
pacity.
Table 3. Average number of animals handled for each 55-gallon barrel for selected work areas, livestock species,
and types of byproduct placed in barrel.
PAGE 24
stored and the sizes of containers to be used are
known. Some rule-of-thumb requirements for 55-
gallon barrels by livestock species, dressed weight,
and type of byproducts are shown in table 3. While a
55-gallon barrel occupies about 3 square feet of
foorspace, about 4 square feet should be allowed per
barrel to permit easy movement into and out of stor-
age.
About one-third of the foorspace shown in the
slaughter plant offal room is needed to hold the offal
barrels for a typical days operation. The remaining
space is for an aisle, a small paunch worktable, and
extra barrel storage. The offal room in the non-
slaughter plant layout holds about ten 55gallon
barrels, with room left for a narrow aisle.

Hide Room
Many livestock slaughter plants have a room for
curing cattle hides. The hides are put into the curing
area as they are removed or at the end of the days
slaughter. Ideally, the hides are trimmed and
cleaned, and then spread out hair side down in a
curbed area, covered with coarse salt, at the rate of
about a pound of salt to each pound of hide, and
cured for about 30 days before they are sold. The
temperature of the hide room should be about 50 to
55 F, with a relative humidity of 85 to 95 percent to
get the best cure (1) . Some slaughterers sell hides
green. Green hides are placed in containers in the
offal room, and a buyer picks them up several times
a week.
The hide-curing area can be located adjacent to
the slaughter floor, in the basement, or in a separate
building (figs. 27 and 28). There are advantages and
disadvantages to each location. A hide room near the
slaughter floor is most convenient for disposing of
the hides, but is usually, the most costly because of
the type of construction required by meat inspection.
Another disadvantage is that in hot weather a dis-
agreeable odor from the hide room may penetrate
the entire plant. A basement room is naturally cool,
and hides can he dropped through a vented chute
from the skinning area to the hide room, but a base-
ment hide room can be expensive because of the ex-
tra excavation and building foundation required,
unless the plant is located on a hillside. A separate
hide house can be built of relatively inexpensive ma-
terials in almost any configuration. The major disad-
vantages of a separate hide house is distance
from the slaughter floor, which makes for discom-
fort for workers transporting hides in inclement
weather.
A suggested design for a separate hide house is
shown in figure 29. The drawing shows the pit be-
low ground level; however, it could be located at or
above ground level if necessary. Hides located be-
low ground level should be cooler in summer. To
prevent saltwater from leaking into the surrounding
soil the pit floor and walls should be waterproofed.
When the pit is emptied of hides, the standpipe can
be removed and the walls and floor cleaned before a
new hide cure cycle is started. The 2-foot-high
standpipe allows brine to accumulate around the
hides in cure. The ventilators at each end
Figure 27. Hide-curing area adjacent to slaughter floor.
Figure 28. Hide-curing area in a separate building.
PAGE 25
of the roof allows air to circulate through the build-
ing. Since salt is very corrosive, either wood or rust-
resistant ventilators are recommended. The walk-
way, on two sides of the pit, is for temporary storage
of hides and salt storage. The hide house door can be
of treated wood or noncorrosive metal. A galva-
nized-metal or aluminum roof is suggested.
The pit size shown will handle hides from aver-
age-size cattle and provide space for a narrow walk-
way on two sides. Based on a storage factor of about
1 cubic foot per hide, it should hold around 300
hides.
A separate hide house similar to the one shown in
figure 29 is suggested for the slaughter plant in fig-
ure 5. This plant will produce about 120 hides in a
30-day cure cycle; a hide pit depth of between 1 1/2
and 2 feet will handle that volume and allow for a
modest increase as well.

Product Shipping and Receiving

A dock for shipping customer orders and one or
more receiving docks are needed at most plants. If
carcass meats are purchased, the shipping dock also
can be used for receiving meats. A dock not in use
for loading or unloading meats can be used for re-
ceiving dry storage supplies, plant equipment, and
similar items.
A dock can extend out from the building or be
located inside the building near a doorway in the
outside wall. For small plants, the outside dock is
recommended for shipping and receiving carcasses
because it is usually less expensive than interior
space, and the plant door can be kept closed except
when products are passing through. The outside
dock floor should be concrete, sloped down toward
the outer edge at about one-eighth inch per foot. A
dock height of about 24 inches should be adequate
for serving small trucks and automobiles, and from
42 to 48 inches, for refrigerated trucks. To protect
meat products from inclement weather, a roof is re-
quired over an outside dock (11). If the dock roof
extends beyond the edge of the dock floor, the low-
est part of the roof should be at least 12 feet above
the driveway to clear refrigerated bodies on small
trucks, or 14 feet to clear trailer trucks.
A covered dock is shown in both the slaughter
plant layout (for loading meats into customer trucks
and receiving supplies) and in the non-slaughter
plant layout (for receiving carcass quarters and
wholesale cuts). Both docks have an overhead rail
for moving meat cuts hung on trolleys. Both layouts
have a corridor that connects the dock to the plant
storage and work areas. A track scale is located in
the corridor for weighing meats hung on trolleys. To
help keep insects out of the plant, a fly-chaser fan,
air door, or other device should be installed over the
doorway (11).

Inspection Office

A meat inspection office may or may not be re-
quired at a small meat-processing plant. The area
meat inspection official can determine if an office is
needed when the operator visits the area office to
discuss plant location, building plans, type of busi-
ness, and volume to be handled. If an office is not
required, the inspector must be provided with a
place to store supplies and clothing and desk space
to prepare reports
(10).
A meat inspection office is shown on both plant
layouts in figures 5 and 6, since plants handling
these volumes probably would have a full-time in-
spector. The inspection office for the nonslaughter
plant is not provided with a shower bath since it is
not required (11).

Employee Welfare Facilities

Employee welfare facilities include dressing
rooms, toilets, shower baths, and lunchrooms.
Figure 29. Perspective drawing of a suggested hide house
with a capacity of 300 hides.
PAGE 26
When both sexes are employed, separate dressing
rooms and toilets are required. If suitable restaurants
are not available nearby, a plant may be required to
provide a lunchroom (11).
The slaughter plant layout includes a dressing
room and toilet room for the female employees and a
dressing room and a combined toilet and shower
bath room for the male employees. In the nonslaugh-
ter plant layout, dressing rooms and toilets are pro-
vided for both sexes. Employee lunchrooms are not
provided since it is assumed that acceptable eating
facilities are located nearby.

Plant Offices

The amount of office space to include should be
decided on at the same time the operator develops
plans for the remainder of the plant. Offices in the
plants studied ranged from a desk in one corner of a
combination salesroom and business office to sev-
eral rooms for the bookkeeper, plant operator, and
customer sales. In most cases, operators who did not
have private offices expressed a desire to include
one when planning a new plant.
There are no guidelines available for determining
office size based on volume or type of business;
therefore, only recommendations based on observa-
tions are made in this report. Office space at a busi-
ness with few visitors should contain at least 100
square feet since a desk, two chairs, and two file
cabinets will consume about one-third of the total
space. If meat display cases for customer sales are to
be provided, then the space allocation should be 200
square feet or more.
The plant office and sales area are combined in
the slaughter plant layout; however, a private office
of about 8 feet square is provided for the manager.
The nonslaughter plant layout has an office area and
a salesroom. The office area also has a private office
for the manager and a toilet for the office employ-
ees.
Plant Utilities

At 13 plants in Texas and Oklahoma, the live-
stock volume and utility requirements were obtained
for 1 months operation (table 4). The total utility
costs shown in the table were computed from aver-
aged rates for October 1974 and do not reflect the
actual bills paid by these plants. A relationship was
not established between the number of livestock
handled and utility consumption, because too many
variables were present. A person planning to con-
struct a new plant should be able to use the average
data in the table to roughly establish what his utility
requirements and costs will be based on the antici-
pated volume to be handled.
An adequate electrical supply, an ample water
source, and a good sewer system are necessary in
order to operate a modern meat plant. When com-
petitively priced, natural or liquefied petroleum gas
usually supplies a portion of the energy require-
ments at these plants.
Three-phase 220- or 440-volt electrical service
is needed to operate the electric motors for re-
frigeration, hoists, dehairers, meat grinders, meat
saws, and other large equipment items. The lights
and small equipment generally operate with a sin-
gle-phase 110-volt service. Since many work areas
have damp or wet floors and
Table 4. Livestock volume, utility consumption range, and utility cost for 1 month for 13 plants in Texas and Oklahoma.
PAGE 27
require that water be used around electrical equip-
ment, all electrical outlets should be waterproof and
the outlets and equipment adequately grounded to
prevent shorts or shocks to workers. In the fabrica-
tion room it is recommended that electrical outlets
for equipment plug-ins be suspended from the ceil-
ing and wall outlets eliminated. Ceiling-suspended
outlets eliminate cords on the floor and possible wall
plug shorts during cleaning.
It is suggested that whenever practicable fluores-
cent lamps be used for interior lights. Fluorescent
lamps provide from 3 to 4 times more light per watt
than incandescent lamps, produce less heat, and have
a bulb life 7 to 10 times longer (6).
Water supply and pressure should be adequate to
meet the peak demand, which normally occurs dur-
ing plant cleanup at the end of a days operation.
The recommended pipe size for hose connections is
3/4-inch-inside diameter, and for lavatories, sinks,
toilets, and shower baths, -inch-inside diameter.
The plant service line and branches should be large
enough to prevent a noticeable drop in pressure and
reduction in flow rate when more than one outlet is
in use. Water flow through the hoses was measured
in four plants. The highest rate, about 8 gallons a
minute, was through a 5/8-inch-inside-diameter
hose, 25 feet long, used without a nozzle to clean the
slaughter floor. A
5
/
8
-inch-inside-diameter hose, 27
feet long, which was used without a nozzle to clean
livestock pens, had the lowest rate of about 2 1/2
gallons a minute. At all four plants, whenever a sec-
ond hose or outlet was turned on, the pressure and
flow rate of the first hose dropped off significantly,
hut was not measured when two or more hoses or
outlets were in use.
A plant that slaughters should have a heater
capable of supplying 180 F water, and a non-
slaughter plant should have a heater supplying
140 F water (10). The 180 F water should be
available at hose outlets for cleaning, slaughter-
ing, inedible offal, and similar areas and for
sterilizing equipment such as viscera inspection
trucks (11). Water at 180 can cause burns;
therefore, all other hot-water outlets in the plant
should be supplied with 140 water. A slaughter
plant can have a 180 water heater and a 140
water heater or one 180 water heater with a
tempering valve that automatically mixes cold
water with the supply to general-purpose out-
lets.
Commercial quick-recovery water heaters are
recommended to provide the extra heating capacity
needed during peak demand. A hot-water storage-
tank capacity of at least 100 gallons for slaughter
plants and 85 gallons for non-slaughter plants is sug-
gested for even the smallest volume plants. These
capacities are suggested because only about 70 per-
cent of the storage capacity at the thermostat setting
can be used during a peak demand period before the
incoming cooler water significantly lowers the tem-
perature of the remaining 30 percent (3).
In some areas, the water is hard because of
high mineral content. Hard water heated above
about 140 F can deposit the minerals on the interior
surface of the hot-water storage tank and piping.
These deposits will continue to build up, and in a
relatively short period the water heater efficiency
and flow of water through the pipes are reduced. A
commercial water softener connected to the cold-
water supply to the heater can be used to neutralize
the minerals in the water supply.
The sewer system must be acceptable to local
or State health authorities before inspection can be
inaugurated at a plant (11). If a municipal sewer sys-
tem is not available, a slaughter plant may use a sep-
tic tank with a drainage field or a lagoon system. A
nonslaughter plant probably can use the cheaper
septic tank and drainage field system, but very little
is available on lagoon design for small meat plants.
To aid in planning a lagoon system, the following
guidelines are presented. A lagoon system for the
larger volume meat processors should have an an-
aerobic, a transition, and an aerobic pond (fig. 30).
The wall slope shown is recommended to reduce
wall erosion, and the dike height and width, to mini-
mize the need to obtain a significant amount of soil
during construction.
4
If lagoons are located in po-
rous soils, a bottom and wall liner of nonporous ma-
terial may be needed to protect ground water from
possible pollution. Gases are produced by lagoons,
and high sulfate concentration in the raw water sup-
ply can


4
Witherow, .J. L. Preliminary design of cooperative de-
velopment and demonstration project on waste treatment sys-
tems suitable for small meat packing plants. U.S. Department of
the Interior, Washington, D.C. 14 pp. 1970. (Internal report.)
PAGE 28
produce an unpleasant hydrogen sulfide odor in
the area. In general, if the sulfate content of the
water is less than 100 parts per million, the odor is
insignificant, but if it is 200 parts per million or
more there can be an odor problem. If possible,
lagoons should be located at least a half mile from
any dwelling or other place of business.
The criteria used in designing several suc-
cessful lagoon systems were to provide at least 1
acre-foot (43,560 cubic feet) of storage in the an-
aerobic lagoon for each 500 hog units, 180 to 240
pounds live weight, slaughtered each week and at
least 1 acre-foot in the transitional and aerobic la-
goons for each 670 hog units slaughtered each
week. The latter volume should be divided about
one-third to the transitional lagoon and two-thirds
to the aerobic lagoon. For cattle slaughter, a live
animal weighing less than 600 pounds is consid-
ered equivalent to 1 hog unit; between 600 and
900 pounds, 3 hog units; and over 900 pounds, 5
hog units (7).
A lagoon system constructed according to
figure 30 requires at least one-half acre of land.
Some local health officials allow both employee
and plant wastes to be handled by the lagoon,
while others require separate systems for human
and plant wastes. Local and State officials should
be consulted for guidance in planning the sewer-
age system for a plant.

Construction Costs

The construction cost for new slaughter or
nonslaughter plants is estimated at $22 per square
foot in rural areas and from $30 to $35 per square
foot in metropolitan areas. The cost estimates in-
clude building construction and installation of re-
frigeration equipment, electrical wiring, plumbing,
heating, doors, and overhead rails. The cost for
new equipment in the plant can be estimated by
multiplying plant square footage by $5. These es-
timates are based on actual costs for several new
plants constructed in 1974 in the Southwest.






LITERATURE CITED
(1) American Meat Institute. 1958. By-products of the meat
packing industry. 418 pp. The Institute, Chicago.
(2) 1955. Meat packing plant operation manual. 32 pp. The
Institute, Chicago.
(3) American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air
Conditioning Engineers. 1964. Guide and data book.
976 pp. The Society, New York.
(4) Brasington, C. F., Jr. 1959. Livestock auction markets
in the Appalachian area: Methods and facilities. U.S.
Dep. Agric. Mark. Res. Rep. No. 309, 75 pp.
(5) 1966. Hotel and restaurant meat purveyors: Improved
methods and facilities for custom service houses. U.
S. Dep. Agric. Mark. Res. Rep. No. 747, 45 pp.
(6) Callender, .J. H. (ed.). 1966. Time-saver standards: A
handbook of architectural design. Ed. 4, 1299 pp.
McGraw-Hill, New York.
(7) Coerver, J. F. 1964. Anaerobic and aerobic ponds for
packinghouse waste treatment in Louisiana. Proc.
19th Ind. Waste Conf., Purdue Univ., pp. 200209.
(8) Hammons, D. R. 1961. Improved methods and facilities
for cattle slaughtering plants in the Southwest. U.S.
Dep. Agric. Mark. Res. Rep. No. 436, 52 pp.
(9) Henderson, S. M., and Perry, R. L. 1966. Agricultural
process engineering. Ed. 2, 430 pp.
(10) U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1969. Federal facilities
requirements for small existing meat plants. U.S.
Dep. Agric. C&MS, 29 pp.
(11) 1969. U.S. inspected meatpacking plants:
A guide to construction, equipment, layout.
U.S. Dep. Agric. Agric. Handb. No. 191, 73 pp.
Figure 30. Layout of a lagoon system.