introducing brad and greg the sons of dale rugged typical minnesota farmer minnesota annually ship large quantities of meat and other agricultural products to consumers throughout the united states and in foreign adventurous boys curiosity and dreams all lead to something very special that dad would enjoy  in austin the secretary to the public relations director receives daily inquiries concerning plant tours job opportunities and information about the company the brad and greg letter receives prompt attention the austin blab receptionist registers all visitors and make special when boys like brad and greg write in regular tours are scheduled daily monday through friday at ten a m and one p as the anxiously awaited letter arrived today yes there it is addressed to brad and greg dear boys we are pleased to inform you that arrangements have been made for you to take a tour of the hormel plant the rug there you heard of fine holes the one as dad and the boys load up for the trip to the plan a new awareness of meat processing is gained from the plant tours they are exciting and educational as you will see the red cedar river the rugs see this this is hormel original plant of hormel began on this site in eight hundred ninety one and today is the largest of mine company's slaughtering operation tours are available at the austin for the gyal and fremont nebraska location as the rug family registers or mel guide tony corrina arrives to show them through the plan or mel has fifteen processing plants six distribution centers and licensing arrangements for the manufacture of special products in canada ireland england and venezuela a display of popular hormel proud more than seven hundred fifty different items are produced here some of which are spam your a t one ham or mel chilli demi moore beef stew range brand begun and dr saucing from balconies you can look across and tire rooms of assembly or rather disassembly activity the rug boys watch as hog carcasses are broken down into primal cuts this large saw will then cuts the shoulder from the side so much automation enters the industrial picture today that it is not surprising to see the start of meat processing begin in this fashion let's watch the development of the ham one of the first meat cuts to receive attention painstaking care is given to ensure a uniform removal of skin and fa a close inspection of the ham follows the ham slide down issued to the floor below where they are fed on to the automatic scaling line famous hormel cure a t one ham jam ham cooked them or ingredient meat for spam very joy sam's are saved for the production of the curator one precise trimming external and internal that takes place smoking of the cure eighty one hamza's also done with care appealing color and i matched labor as developed in the smoking process here's what the finished product looks like inside the real test of quality back to the pour got the story of bacon first spare ribs are removed bacon comes from the side meat next to the ribs in meat processing we strive to make good use of everything side skins for example are sold for leather the initial step is the removal of the skin from the bacon side which in turn takes off all excess fat the bacon sides are mechanically trimmed as they move along the production line skilled craftsmen at this point trim bacon sides to proper size and shape the meat trimmings are saved for other products once again automation here we see a curing solution being injected by needles into the bacon side nothing in bacon processing is more appealing or mouth watering than a view of bacon as it emerges from the stainless steel smoked chambers a beautiful si after it comes out of the smoke as the bacon is chilled and then borman into just the right shape so that the slices come out nice and even the way you see them in your store a high speed circular knife cleanly slices the bacon to uniforms like about twenty slices per second after exact portions of bacon slices are hand scaled a special saran wrap machine vacuum sealed the packages for longer keeping and better appearance or mel begun stays fresh longer when saran  wrap practive packages are now ready to appear in retail counters across the country for selection by discriminating consumer another phase of the disassembly process is the separation of the shoulder and front seat from the car or mal pig's feet are delegates the items the front feet from all the pigs or mao buys are used in the manufacture of this product called pig's feet are very tasty and attractively the shoulders apply the skin used in the production of gelatin the skins are fed into a grinder and are shown emerging here a series of cooking filtering and chilling operations occur before the gelatin is extruded onto a conveyor belt in this spaghetti like form a moving arm now spreads the gelatin evenly on another belt conveyors this mattress of gelatin will travel through to dryer the dried gelatin is now broken down into small particles and conveyed by to a grinder for final many hours are spent in research laboratories are hormel in an effort to discover new food formulas gelatin is one of the many hormel products that has been constantly researched and tested for mel gelatin is sold to candy and other food manufactures for among other things colorful and wholesome dessert a lab technician then takes a sample of the spam mixture for a lean percentage test the me of carefully tam and the canister is sealed the dials are standardized then the sample is placed in the electronic an already unit for analysis with them seconds this machine accurately reads the lean percentage of the sample the results are recorded by the lab technician and adjustments if necessary are made mixer blade stir ground spam meat under vacuum and refrigeration until it becomes thoroughly bland the raw material is then pumped to the cam filling machines where the tins are automatically filled and vacuum se the cans are then fed to the massive sixty five foot hydrostatic cooking power this huge unit is equipped with a conveyor arise chain of trays that carry the cans through processing cycles of cooking chilling sterilizing and drying when volley loaded this towering structure can hold thirty eight thousand five hundred twelve ounce can well over three hundred fifty spam cans per minute are discharged from this cup the only one in the united states capable of handling our belongings in the conveyor lines leaving the cooker carry the cans directly to automated equipment for orderly assembly and packaging the formation and packing of spam boxes is an impressive slide in itself the boxes first formed the bottom as close and the empty carton is positioned for filling the cases sealed and the product moves by elevator to the storage cooler another area of the hormel plan to be visited the rug family is directed to beef up or ations a modern on the rail dressing system moves the cattle to the mechanical scanner to long arms move outward and are affixed to the b five this operation pulls the hide away from the red area without scoring it or chipping into the me the remainder of the hide removal process is accomplished with a motorized chain that is fastened to the hide and which pulls the hide from the animal in a clean and efficient manner to the hides are scratched out on a table for final trimming salt a valued preservatives is then added to make certain that the hides can be shipped to distant tanneries without spoilage hides or folded tide and are now ready for shipment the beef  austin plant have a holding capacity of well over two million pounds of choice beef almost all hormel beef is sold to retail and wholesale markets as quarters or side the hormel institutional department selects top quality meat from the beef coolers for filling the special orders received from hotels and restaurants hospitals colleges and universities the dining rooms of these food service institutions have precise requirements as to size shape weight and quality of their me because it takes special care at hormel to meet these very rigid specifications here you see choice boneless new york up steaks being individually wrapped for a customer in tampa on serving the finest quality me a rapid freezing of the need aides and retaining all the natural juices choice tenderloin steaks boneless tops or line and new york cut steaks there's plenty of good eating on this table these stakes are shown in portions ready for the broiler or grill now you see the end result of controlled scientifically age be magine years of enjoying this meat or mellow institutional department has a challenging assignment to fulfill that of selecting just the right kind of meat which will appeal to the discriminating diner hormonal feed male is the next area to be visited by the run family this ninety foot structure has automated facilities to make a correct feed mixtures hormel feeds are designed to produce a pound of pork or beef at the lowest cost when combined with farm raised for ages and grain thousands of pounds of winners are produced daily at hormel boneless be fun pork are the selected meat used in the manufacture of armel wieners all raw materials are kept under constant cold temperatures the meat is dumped into this huge grinder which is capable of handling loads up to one thousand pounds freshly ground meat arrives from the grinder the operator handles the grinding scaling and conveying of meat to the blender blending is now taking place the hormel batch master at the electronic control panel sets the standard formula on the dials the feed augers are activated and the exact amounts of meat needed to make the prescribe badge are now brought spices formulated in our own flavoring department our bag for each particular batch the blended ingredients are now back to mix it is next transported these ingenious machines automatically stuff and link the eighty four foot strands of wieners artificial casings give them shape and form transferred to a conveyor rise cha pass through a spray wise and pretty tempering room travel through to smoke out humans a steam cooking and water shower and then undergo a blast chill where the temperature is reduced to lock in all the juices and flavor the wieners are now lifted from the chain and placed on supplied tables for the stripping machine operators this is where the artificial casings are remove girls wearing plastic gloves do some manual alignment the hormel winners are vacuum packaged and then move over an electronic check where which rejects all underweight packages test servings of many new and well established hormel products are set up to check texture flavor tenderness and color among the many considerations when marketing a product is will people like it taste panels are effective in controlling quality and determining whether new products will meet consumer acceptance the winners are packed in carton placed on a conveyor and headed for the loading doc after loading in refrigerated railroad cars and hormel trucks the winners are rush the customers across the country the tour takes the run family to some production lines that can be viewed from this ideal location beans tomatoes and exotic spices the rich blend of ingredients are placed in the containers they are then sealed lands for lack of bringing out the real chil moving forward at a rapid pace in the meat industry at hormel this laboratory is where new products are born and repeatedly tested after passing rigid examinations the new products are placed in consumer test markets across the country quality chemical and bacteriological tests are the main services of the control laboratory quality control and hormel products for example is maintained by keeping a constant running analytic history of each product this ensures that the product is being produced to exact specifications control laboratory personnel are like detectives on the alert for harmful bacteria careful inspection only one word correctly describes the ingredients that go into america's favorite ready deserves to and that word is  fresh key to the palatability of them the more beef stew is the use of potatoes and carrots which are grown in neighboring states electronic scales verify that a proper amount of meat has been placed in each can the ingredients simmer together inside the canned cooking begins after sealing of cans to save all the flavor and fresh one of the largest producers of quality dry sausage in the world or mel was the first to use this road of cut machine twenty sharp blades quickly cut the meat and blend in the spices strings were wrapped around dried sausage products for reinforcement many years ago a practice continues and has since become a trademark this woman is an expert at tying the filled casing appealing banner calls attention to hormel jenner salami famous at talian favors these delectable sausages have been prepared from old world recipes that have been handed down from father to son since before america was discovered over the years many varieties of dried sausage have been developed by hormel distinctive spices excellent flavor and color are all found in the hormel family of dry sausage some eight thousand hormel employees are responsible for a variety of duties sales and livestock personnel accountants and attorneys positions and engineers a broad spectrum of jobs the latest in computers and electronic data processing is an integral part of the everyday operation providing information in seconds that once took many hours to compile these units are capable of printing and reading can calculate and compare numbers and store data for future reference payroll checks with their accounting of earnings and adduction are printed in less than a half hour enormous quantities of power are used to generate steam or heat refrigeration and electricity trained personnel are needed to oversee control and maintain these complex system sheet metal shop a busy noisy place galvanized metal and stainless steel are constantly being shaped and duck and shoot improvements and replacements of existing facilities are made craftsman with ingenuity a magination and skilled hands are necessary in this highly mechanized plant even the most modern machinery requires some personal attention this power break is used to shape large or small pieces of metal into proper sizes for a variety of application spot welding a quick method of tacking two pieces of lightweight metal together highly skilled machinists make many repairs hard steel knives cut and shaped various metals required to make necessary replacement parts implant repairs can conveniently and quickly be made controlling and recording instruments like these keep humid a day in temperatures constant new recording discs are installed daily these i appeal ng products are manufactured binion's and quality have helped build the american consumers acceptance of these various hormel products this store was designed to acquaint the rug family with many features of r m l companies every day operation why not plan on visiting us soon you are always welcome mat or mel all of fine