A first of its kind program, the Humane Handling Institute, will provide comprehensive hands-on training for current meat industry workers in humane pre-slaughter handling, transport, stunning, and equipment maintenance.
Kurt Vogel, Humane Handling Institute Director, shares more about what the institute is, why it is needed, and how to be involved.
The Humane Handling Institute is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection through the Meat Talent Development Program, a $5 million program created to strengthen the state’s meat processing supply chain and workforce. This institute focuses on developing the skills that preslaughter handlers, transporters, owners, and operators need in meat plants.
“At UW-River Falls, our story starts in 2014 when we started tracking the humane handling enforcement letters that are issued by the food safety and inspection service to plants that violate the Humane Slaughter Act,” says Vogel. “When we started doing the assessment of these letters, we noticed pretty quickly that the primary cause seemed to be associated with pre-slaughter stunning and that the majority of those letters that were posted were virtually all avoidable with appropriate training or appropriate equipment set up.”
Vogel and his team have continued to track the letters since 2014 and realized that the stunning issue wasn’t going away. Thus, they came up with the idea to develop a training center where people can send their pre-slaughter handlers and operators to learn and train.
“We have animal models of cattle, pigs and sheep heads that we will use to train people on how to properly apply stunners,” explains Vogel. We also have animal tissues that we can use for targeting to help show operators exactly where their target should be.”
The institute will utilize most of the models of stunning equipment that are available today. In addition to learning how to use the equipment, participants will also learn equipment maintenance and can bring in their personal equipment to learn with.
The Humane Handling Institute is primarily for Wisconsin-based processors, particularly in small plants, to get their personnel trained. Vogel and his team are offering a seat in two of their courses to one person from each of the approximately 120 slaughter establishments in the state.
Vogel adds, “The next step will be to extend the training to college students, people that may be interested in going into the field and want to gain some additional training so that they stand out, as well as more of a national scale by working with all the employees that work at meat processing companies outside of just our state.”
Currently, final hiring is being completed and curriculum details as well as workshops are being constructed. Those interested in being involved in the institute can do so by selecting whatever course they feel best fits them or completing all five courses and receiving certification. For those who complete the certification program, the company they work for will be allowed to use a program label on their products indicating that they are humane handlers.
“The value that this type of training will have for the sustainability of our meat industry is huge. This is a really important initiative because it will help to prevent the suffering that animals may experience if they’re not appropriately handled, keep the industry in compliance with legal requirements, help to protect the well-being of meat industry workers, and then help to ensure the longer-term sustainability of the meat industry as a whole,” adds Vogel.
You can learn more about the Humane Handling Institute and sign up at uwrf.edu/cafes/hhi.
Leave a Reply