University of Missouri to Launch Mobile Meat Processing Training

The University of Missouri's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources will provide mobile meat processing training next year. The university will send two mobile meat processing training centers throughout the state as part of a pilot program to address the labor shortages within the meat processing industry. The Missouri Department of Agriculture provides funding for the effort through its Meat and Poultry Processing Grant Program. Organizers describe one of the mobile units as a 'hot dog plant on wheels.'

The training center is designed to teach meat processing skills. The other will be set up as a mobile retail storefront with a point-of-sales system. That unit will be used to provide training on retail sales and marketing of products. The mobile centers will be self-contained units and will be used throughout the state as small processing plants don't always have time to train employees. They will also teach consumer relations, managing budgets, inventory management and marketing.

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com