Cured Meat Products
Practical Action
The layout of equipment within the room should allow food to move between different stages in a
process without the paths crossing. This reduces the risk of contaminating finished products
with raw meat. There should also be sufficient room behind equipment for cleaning. The layout
of the processing room should take the following principles into account:
Incoming meat should be placed in a refrigerator or cold store at below 5oC, or in a freezer.
This equipment should not be used to store finished products or any other materials.
There should be physical separation between areas that are used to prepare meat (e.g.
boning, filleting etc.) and subsequent processing.
Smoking, cooking or drying stages should be carried out in a separate room to prevent
steam or smoke from entering the main processing area.
Separate rooms or cupboards should be used to store dry ingredients, packaging materials
and cleaning chemicals.
Dried or smoked products should be stored in a cool area that is well-ventilated and
protected from insects and sunlight. Other products should be stored in a refrigerator or
cold store at around 5oC, which is not used to store anything else.
Changing rooms, toilets and showers should be separated from the processing room by at
least two doors.
An example of the layout of a meat processing room is shown in Fig. 2.
Figure 2: Layout of a meat processing room
Quality assurance
Because meat has a high risk of causing food poisoning, it is essential that processors pay great
attention to the quality of the meat that they buy. Two types of danger exist: 1) infections from
the living animal that are carried by the meat or infectious organisms such as parasites that grow
in the meat; and 2) infections caused by contamination of the meat after slaughter. A qualified
person should inspect animal carcasses to ensure that the meat is free of disease. Contamination
of meat in the abattoir can come from contact with animal faeces, poor quality water, dirty
equipment and poor hygiene by abattoir workers. To ensure that good quality meat is used,
processors should only buy it from reputable farmers or suppliers, and not rely on local street
markets or middlemen. Further details of hygiene and correct management in abattoirs is given
in Guidelines on Small Slaughterhouses and Meat Hygiene for Developing Countries.
The level of quality assurance in meat processing depends on the risk associated with the
particular product, and this is assessed by risk (or hazard) analysis using the HACCP (Hazard
Analysis Critical Control Point) system. Meat processors should carry out a hazard analysis for
each of their products (details are given in How to HACCP). In summary, meat products are low-,
medium- or high-risk foods as follows:
Low-risk meat products:
Medium-risk meat products:
High-risk meat products:
None.
Biltong and similar cured, dried meats, smoked meats, bacon.
Sausages and other ground meat products
(eg.beefburgers, pâtés), cooked hams.
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