Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 11/17/11

The Center for Food Safety at the University of Arkansas has reported that it is partnering with the University of Georgia in a $272,684 grant project designed to determine the food safety risk of small on-farm poultry processing systems (known as pasture poultry production) and evaluate other aspects of their operations.

Pasture poultry farms produce an average of 1,500 broiler birds a year and raise chickens in open-air moveable pens or in free-range environments. The birds are raised without growth promotion or therapeutic antimicrobials and are fed an organic diet certified by USDA.

Funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) agency, the project is designed to determine the food safety risks associated with mobile processing units as compared to the risks at small USDA facilities. The project will also assess the economic feasibility of pasture poultry production using the mobile processing units compared to other types of processing.

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