How a "porker" is processed...........................

[Midnightmom]

The Mt. Olive Pickle video seemed to go over well, so I thought I would share this video too. 

 

Follow a pig through the Hormel processing plant as it becomes ham, bacon, SPAM, pickled pork's feet an so much more. The video appears to have been made from old movies, so the quality is more "film" like than what you normally see in current day videos.

 

My original major when I was in college was Agriculture, but a field trip to a beef processing plant changed my mind and I eventually wound up with a BA in Sociology. It might as well have been in "cultural studies" for all the good I've gotten out of it. It does look good on a Resume, though.

 

Anyway, here's the video:

 

[Midnightmom]

One of the most "amazing" things about how all of these products are produced is that anything that comes in a can is COOKED    in that can after it is loaded with ingredients and sealed.

 

I do think that the hot dogs (wieners as they call them) look MUCH more appetizing after they have been cured and smoked  than the emulsified meat  does  before it gets stuffed into the casings. 

 

Are you ready to go shopping now?   

[euphrasyne]

I didn't have a problem looking at the mixtures.  Its just ground meat with filler --looked like my meatloaf or homemade sausages but a finer grind.  My philosophy is if you are going to eat the cow, use the whole cow--or pig in this instance.

 

I liked the old packing video

Edited February 16, 2021 by euphrasyne

[Mother]

Interesting. I like the old documentaries.  I wonder if they have newer processes now.  We might end up liking the old way better if we only knew what all they add. 

 

I agree Euphrasyne.  Use as much as is possible.  Many many years ago my Mom worked for Swift.  That was when a lot of the processing was still done by hand. She worked in most areas of the plant at one time or another.  In her late eighties she could still butcher, pluck, clean, cut, and package chicken faster than four of us together. She taught me to use the bones, cartilage, tail, wing tips, and even feet.  I still do that today.  We had pigs back then and anything left over after that was fed to them.  Now we feed it to the barn cats. Amazing how little is left when all is said and done.  

 

Thanks MM. 

[Jeepers]

That brought back some old memories. When I was about 4-5 years old I remember every Saturday night my mom and I would watch a scary movie and eat pickled pigs feet. At the time I didn't know they were really pigs feet. I thought that was just a cute name. I loved gnawing on those things. Imagine my horror decades later when I found out they really were the feet of an actual pig. I had been to my aunt and uncle farm many times. I saw their pigs. I saw their dirty filthy poop incrusted feet. Mommm! 

[Littlesister]

And why my daughter does the medical billing for Smithfield foods.  Very interesting how they did all that back then. Though they now have newer and faster ways of processing the meat. My grandparents had a smoke house and used to smoke their own meats that they had on the farm when I was little. They used every part of the cow, chicken feathers for homemade pillows. etc.