A22-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 15, 1999
Berks Teachers Get A Taste Of Maki
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
LEBANON (Lebanon Co.)
“Further processing” it’s
become a catchword for not only
the ag industry, but others as well.
But “further processing" takes
on new meaning when it comes to
making bologna.
But while smoked sausage mak
ers begin to feel the heat from
environmental protection agencies
to cut the outside smoke, new tech
nologies, better equipment,
improved handling, and a constant
eye on food safety have always
been at the center of Lebanon
bologna-making techniques.
About 26 teachers who partici
pate in the Ag In The Classroom
program toured a bologna process
ing facility and sampled various
products Tuesday near Lebanon.
There they learned how the indus
try began, how it progressed, how
it changed, and where it stands
today.
Dan Baum, plant manager for
the Daniel Weaver Company Fine
Meats, provided the tour. Later in
the day, additional tours included a
beef cow/calf producer and a feed
lot in the Womelsdorf area.
Weaver has been in business
since 1885. Baum said the plant
was the site of the original com
mercial Lebanon-style bologna
operation in the U.S. That type 0 f
semi-dried, fermented sausage
uses all beef and has no additives
or extenders (such as soy protein
isolates).
Hie bologna, which sells for
about $2. IS a pound wholesale and
$2.85 a pound retail, like many
sausage-type products, makes use
of culled animals old dairy
cows and bulls. It’s been a consis
tent form of lunch meat at many
deli counters, at home, in restaur
ants, and elsewhere.
The meat from the older animals
is ground up, mixed with bacteria,
water, spices, and other
fermcnting/curing agents,
wrapped, and processed in the
smokehouse to an internal temper
ature of 120 degrees. In the past,
the meat was hung for up to two
weeks in smokehouses constructed
of oak and cedar.
Now, with different techniques
and smoking methods, the product
is smoked inside the plant in
stainless-steel lined lockers that
can process it much sooner in
about 24 hours.
Baum said he primarily handles
the “microbiological” end of the
processing, including “meat tech
nology.” He ensures the proper
bacteria are present during fermen
tation, the lockers are at proper
At the farm used by Firestine owned by Fred Krott, Myer
stown, 20 brood cows and calves were feeding in the graz
ing paddocks on 20 acres. About 10 heifers are kept on
another farm in Richland, noted Firestine.
temperatures and relative humidi
ty, and overall quality control is
maintained.
The meat is purchased already
slaughtered, boneless, and run in a
block grinder. The grinder can
grind up to about 300 pounds a
minute. The meat is moved to a
large mixer, where spices, salt,
sugar, and curing agents are added.
Sugars are especially important to
the sweet bologna line they sell.
Food safety is top concern at the
plant. Baum, who said he believes
the issues of food safety have been
blown out of proportion, noted that
because of the presence of bacteria
in the fermentation process, other
harmful bacteria are excluded.
According to Baum, the public
should understand it’s impossible
to come up with a bacteria-free
product, even when processing
standard lunch meat.
The meat is stuffed into casings,
called ’’stockinettes,’’ and placed
into the all-stainless steel lockers
or “smokehouses.” A key to a
quality, consistent product,
according to Baum, is working on
the correct microbiological
aspects, coming up with the right
“bacteria mix,” a product of much
research and development on
Weaver’s part.
Some of the lockers inside the
plant are manually controlled and
some are computer-driven. Baum
showed the tour group a locker
smoking the beef stick product line
7,000 pounds of beef stick in
one smokehouse locker. One lock
er had three hours worth of smok
ing. The product is all beef, with no
extenders (including soy protein
isolates and others). The beef
sticks make use of livestock quar
ters and chucks.
Also, round cuts and tenderloin
are used, depending on the final
product.
An important part of the “further
processing” is that, to get the taste
consumers want, the use of the
natural animal fat in the product is
critical. “The only thing that has
flavor in the meat is the fat,” he
told the group.
But because of improved tech
nology and techniques, fermenta
tion processing time has been shor
tened through the years. Also,
where the conventional, old-time,
outside smokehouses used coal
and sawdust to create the smoke,
processing inside the plant in the
lockers involves the use of liquid
or ionized smoke.
Also, a lot of the equipment
used to make bologna is manufac
tured in Germany. The German
made equipment, including the
computers used, are sticklers for
Some of the lockers inside the plant are manually controlled and some are
computer-driven. Baum showed the tour group a locker that was smoking the beef
stick product line—7,ooo pounds of beef stick in one smokehouse locker. One locker,
in back of Baum, center, had three hours worth of smoking.
detail.
The exterior smokehouses are
sometimes used for hams and
bacon, Baum noted. However,
more than ever. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) regula
tions arc becoming stricter for out
side smokehouses.
The modem ways of producing
bologna do not necessarily mean a
more consistent product, accord-
ing to Baum. But, he said, the pro-
duct is safer.
“Does it taste better?” he said.
“It’s difficult to say.”
Those who want to enjoy the
bologna need to understand exact
ly how the product is prepared.
Baum noted that, more than ever,
students have “no concept of
where food comes from or how it
gets (on the kitchen table).”
The tour group also visited the
MAP farm operated by Mike Fire
stine of the agri finance department
of Fulton Financial and affiliates.
Firestine operates a 30-head Polled
Hereford cow/calf operation in
addition to a pick-your-own pump
kin operation.
At the farm used by Firestine
owned by Fred Krott, Myers town,
20 brood cows and calves were
feeding in the grazing paddocks on
20 acres. About 10 heifers are kept
on another farm in Richland, noted
Firestine.
Firestine farms with his wife,
Marline, who raises purebred
Hampshire and Cortiedale sheep
on the farm, and daughters Mor
gan, the state Polled Hereford prin
cess and Margeaux, the state
Polled Hereford queen. Firestine
continues to raise show cattle that
are top quality, with a lot of
muscle, he noted to the group.
At the Krott farm, Firestine said
that the cows and calves are grazed
for about five days in the paddock.
He is in the process of revitalizing
the pasture at the Krott farm and
spoke about his field management.
Firestine noted to the group that
he used grain to entice the herd to
come into the grass paddock. “It’s
like giving candy to a baby," he
said.
One of the cows, 57W from pie like you - Farm Bureau peo-
Bear Tooth Ranch (the Mel Gibson pie like you, and Farm Bureau
ranch) in Columbus, Mont., was members before you, who have
the mother of the grand champion built the organization for
at the Farm Show. He spoke about decades from the grassroots,
the 85 percent success rate in con- Farm Bureau people who have
ception of the cow/calf enterprise. established the organization's
ng Bologna,
Fires tine also houses an Angus
for On Fire Youth Ministry for
Ken Winebark.
The cows are kept, Fircstine told
the group, as long as they continue
to produce a calf up to 600 pounds.
The 57W cow is 12 years old.
Soon after, the group toured the
124-acre Glenn Martin farm near
Womelsdorf. Martin, who will
soon be converting to dairy,
finishes 75 Angus crossbred steers
and sells than at auction. One pot
held 75 the night of the tour, with a
capacity of 250.
Martin feeds a total mixed ration
of com silage, high-moisture
shelled com, and a 42 percent pro-
Farm Bureau
Administrator
Addresses Members
SYRACUSE N.Y. - New York
Farm Bureau Administrator
Jeff Kirby addressed the nearly
500 delegate-members and
guests at the organization's
42nd annual meeting.
Kirby, who was named
administrator in October, spoke
of the new and exciting plans for
the coming year.
In his address, Kirby spoke
about the new computer technol
ogy being developed for New
York Farm Bureau operations,
new positions within the organi
zation, and monies being bud
geted for new initiatives to sup
port and assist county Farm
Bureaus. Kirby highlighted the
benefits, of each of these pro
grams for the organization and
the members.
His remarks to the delegates
and guest included, "...I am very
pleased to have become New
York Farm Bureau's new admin
istrator, but I am also very
proud. The reason that I am
proud to have become the orga
nization's administrator is peo-
Tour Farms
tein supplement. No hay is fed.
The cattle, purchased in Virgini
a, are brought in at4so-600pound-
s, finished to 1,300 pounds, and
sold at auction. Martin tries to fin
ish the steers to medium size to
ensure they are well-muscled with
not too much finish.
Martin, who is remodeling a
bam for dairy frees tall units, also
has a 150-sow farrow-to-finish
swine operation. He finishes 2,500
hogs for Hatfield.
He intends to eventually have 75
registered and grade Holstein at
the farm.
Martin farms with wife, Esther,
and sons Mike, 27; Glenn Jr., 17;
and Brian, 13.
longstanding reputation as a
trustworthy, * straightforward,
hardworking, credible, tough,
reasonable, fair, honest, and
strong advocate of agricultural
interests, and of New York agri
culture."
Kirby said, "New York Farm
Bureau carries a lot of clout
because of that well-deserved
reputation, and a lot of responsi
bility as well. I am proud by
association to have been chosen
to help lead and direct our Farm
Bureau organization in address
ing the challenges of the future
while maintaining the guiding
principles, high standards, and
respected reputation that Farm
Bureau members like yourselves
have established so well. Thank
you for that opportunity."
Kirby grew up on a 180-acre
farm in Delaware County, where
the family raised everything
from horses and beef cattle, to
chickens, turkeys and pigs. He
attended Cornell University's
College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences and was graduated
with a degree in agricultural
economics and business man
agement in 1990. In 1983, Jeff
was graduated from Vermont
Law School. Jeff and his wife
Debbie lived in Rexford, N.Y.
with their two young daughters.
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