Abstractmoravia meat locker is a family-owned very-small slaughter and meat processing facility in the rural community of moravia, iowa

The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service awarded Moravia Meat Locker a $183,575 Project Grant under the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants – Supplemental Funding program (CFDA 10.180). Located in Moravia, Iowa, Moravia Meat Locker is a family-owned small slaughter and meat processing facility that offers retail sales and custom slaughter and processing services. Through this award ending September 2024, Moravia Meat Locker will upgrade its cooler, freezer, and retail areas to improve food safety, increase storage and processing capacity, and meet the standards to participate in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program. Specifically, the award funds will expand cooler and freezer space by 75% annually, expand the retail area to free up processing space, and add a new smokehouse and inventory system to increase processing capacity by 50% and ensure food safety compliance.

We offer retail sales and custom slaughter and processing. Custom processing accounts for 90 percent of our annual revenues, although the 10 percent of our on-site retail sales are crucial, as we are the only source of fresh food within 20 miles. We want to participate in the cooperative interstate shipment program, but lack the financing to invest in necessary improvements to meet fsis standards.to meet these standards, we first propose upgrading our cooler and freezer areas to add additional space and improve carcass hanging capacity, temperature stability, and efficiency. We project this will increase our storage by 75 percent annually. We also propose expanding our retail area to free up space for processing and packaging, which will contribute to our $450,000 annual sales growth goal and ensure better separation between cooked and raw products pursuant to fsis protocol. We also propose adding a new smokehouse and inventory system that will increase our processing capacity by 50 percent, increase the variety of products we offer, and boost food safety and fsis compliance by digitally logging temperatures and ensuring uniform heating and automatic cooling.