Attraction and Retention Strategies for the Meat Retailing Industry

The International ExperienceThe International ExperienceThere is no traineeship or apprenticeship in the USA or Canada for retail butchery and this course isdesigned to deliver all of the underpinning knowledge required and a strong base for the practical skillsneeded to gain employment in this sector. Students are exposed to carcass meat in this course by theway of demonstrations but will not work on actual carcasses as this is not an essential skill requiredin the retail sector. Students are, however, given large volumes of product to develop skills such asslicing, trimming and mincing as well as a solid grounding in smallgoods making.High pressure processor, University of AlbertaVisit 4: YB Quality MeatsLocation: Red Deer, Alberta, CanadaYB Quality Meats is a small provincial abattoir that also specialises in smallgoods manufacturing andhas an attached retail outlet. Being in a regional area, this company has struggled to retain staff due tohigher paid work in the oil fields in Alberta.Practical classroom, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)Visit 3: University of Alberta – Meat Science UnitLocation: Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaTo overcome this skills shortage YB employs workers from the Philippines on working visas in specificskills shortage areas. The owners of YB are also involved in an exchange program with meat industryworkers from Germany and Denmark in which their staff are able to further develop their smallgoodsknowledge and skills. In return, workers from these countries are able to further their skills in slaughteringand boning, as well as work on different species such as Elk.The University of Alberta has a food science unit in which graduate students can complete a master’sdegree in Meat Science. At the time of the Fellow’s visit the meat science unit was conducting researchinto how to best control bacteria such as E.coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella.Some of the research into controlling these food poisoning bacteria included testing tenderisingequipment and multi injectors that penetrate red meat primals that could lead to contamination issueswhen dealing with product that can be served without reaching a safe internal temperature.Students were also conducting research into high pressure processing where pressure is used onproduct to kill bacteria and this has been very successful when dealing with liquids and ground meats.This process is also used to tenderise product by using the pressure to break connective tissue. Thistechnology is still in its infancy in relation to meat products and there are issues around solid productsholding their shape as well as texture.Elk processed at YB Quality MeatsYB Quality Meats1415