Department Profile

Meat Plant, Mannuthy.

Genesis
Kerala Agricultural University established the Meat Technology Unit in the year 1992 and PG Diploma courses in Meat Processing Technology was started with aid from the Govt of Kerala in 1995. With the introduction of all India syllabus for veterinary education by Veterinary Council of India this Unit was recognized the 19th statutory department of Veterinary Faculty as Department of Livestock Products Technology. The ICAR recognized this unit as Centre of Excellence in Meat Science and Technology in 2001, recognized as PG dept and offering MVSC in LPT since 2004 and PhD from 2010.

Academic, Research, Meat Production and Processing facilities
This Department is the most comprehensive facility of its kind in India devoted to the development of meat science and technology and allied fields through UG and PG teaching, research, extension, service to public, and government/nongovernmental agencies, real time hands-on–training for HRD. It provides a mix of R&D, consultancy service to the farmers, entrepreneurs, industry, Govt and NGOs. Unique facilities for meat species identification, quality management, new product development and gamma irradiation also exist. The state-of-the-art facilities for imparting advanced research and training on various aspects of meat production, processing and byproduct utilization include: semi-automated multispecies abattoir for the humane slaughter and overhead rail dressing of all food animals, completely conveyorised poultry processing plant, lairages, slaughter halls, processing/fabrication and cutting rooms and 40 MT blast freezer besides other freezers. It is equipped to process all types of meat and to handle about one MT of slaughterhouse byproducts per shift in a Danish dry rendering plant as per EU regulations for ecofriendly utilization of slaughterhouse byproducts. Meat, meat products, pet feed, organic fertilizer, rendered fat and other byproducts worth over Rs. 8 million/annum are produced and sold from the Centre.

Imported meat processing equipments like: Meat mincer, Bowl chopper, Hydraulic and manual sausage filler, Beef and pork carcass splitters, Band saw, Vacuum tumbler, Blade tenderizer, Automated smoke house, Vacuum packing machine, Patty-Burger Machine, Ice flaking machine ,Brine injector, Electrical stimulator, Sausage linking machine, etc.

Analytical laboratory equipped with: HPLC, Amino acid analyzer, Thermal cycler and associated accessories for DNA based works, Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, ELISA reader, UTM, BOD and COD estimation unit, Hunter Lab Miniscan Spectrophotometer, Multiphor and other accessories for Isoelectric Focusing, Horizontal electrophoresis unit, Ultracentrifuge, Gel Documentation System, Polytron homogenizer, UV/VIS spectrophotometer, automated nitrogen and fat analytical equipments, Gamma chamber 5000 for irradiation and other equipments for routine laboratory tests and quality assurance of livestock products, water, sewage and effluent. Class rooms, seminar hall, practical hall with audio-visual facilities exist.
 
Various Externally Aided Projects carried out in this Department include.
Establishment of the Carcass utilization Plant (Dry rendering), Centre of Excellence in Meat Science & Technology: NATP-ICAR, Processing of pork, broiler and eggs: NATP-ICAR, Collaborative research on meat irradiation: FTD-BARC, 4. Production of safe and quality meat and meat products employing gamma radiation: BRNS-D&E.
 
Thesis Profile
Number of thesis submitted: 14