Blog

January 9, 2012

I took a little road trip to Omaha, Nebraska this past week to retrieve a small order of beef due to a very busy holiday season which cleaned us out of Prime Tenderloin and left us short on some other items. Typically we have the beef shipped to us but we didn’t need enough to meet the minimum shipment amount. So, having never been to the great state of Nebraska, I flew up there and rented a truck. The order wasn’t quite ready on Thursday morning so I asked for a tour of the Greater Omaha Packing plant – a tour many would find stomach turning but one I found to be informative and, well, COOL!

I saw the entire process from the humane killing of the animal (even satisfactory of the strict standards of Halal) to the final packaging of the individual primals. Many people have seen the controversial documentary, “Food Inc.” and I assure you, these animals are stress free and in very good shape up until the fateful moment.

Once the animals are slaughtered, they go through a very well-organized and extremely efficient process. The packing house has over a mile of rail the animals move along and only about 3 pounds of the animal goes to waste. The bones are turned into meal for pet food, the skins are sold for leather, and many of the organs including the eyes go to scientific research.

The carcasses are cleaned thoroughly then railed over to the cooler and grading station. The grading station features high tech cameras that offer a grade to the beef. The USDA inspector either accepts that grade or investigates further and adjusts the suggested grade. Once graded, the carcasses are cooled over night before being separated into packaged portions.

As the carcasses move out of the cooler, the human expertise of the folks at Greater Omaha is displayed. I thought our butchers were quick with knives but (with all due respect) they have nothing on the men and ladies working the belts at Greater Omaha. They can separate ribs and loins with such precision you would think the entire process was automated. In fact, the only thing that is 100% automated is the packaging. Otherwise, there is a very skilled worker plying their craft.

I didn’t receive our load until 3:15 P.M. and didn’t pull into Matador until 2:45 the following morning but I wasn’t too upset. We know we have the best beef in the Metroplex and many customers have confirmed this – I now have a much clearer understanding why.