Hotdogs are made. , introducing brad and greg sons of a typical minnesota farmer. Minnesota annually ships large quantities of meat and Agricultural Products to consumers throughout the United States and in foreign countries. Gee whiz. Look at all them hormel cars. Yeah. Wonder whats in them and where they are going. Hey, i know what. Lets ask if we can visit the plant. Dad will take us, i bet. Adventurous boys, curiosity, and dreams all lead to something very special the dad will enjoy too. Gentlemen, we would sure like to visit your plant. My dad said he would come with us if you would let us take a tour. Please let us know. Yours truly, greg and brad. Its fun to write a letter and look forward to a reply. 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 plant receptionist or registers all visitors and makes special arrangements when boys like brad and greg write it. N. Regular tours are scheduled daily, monday through friday at 10 00 a. M. And 1 00 p. M. 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 heard watches as dad and the the herd watches as dad and the boys load up for a trip to the plant. Andtours are as exciting educational as he will see. Across the red cedar river, they see this view. This is hormel. The original plant began on this site in 1891. Today is the largest of Nine Companies slaughtering operations. Tours are available at the austan, fort dodge, iowa, and fremont, nebraska locations. As the family registers, the hormel guide, tony, arrives to show them through the plant. Hormel has 15 processing plants, six distribution centers, and Licensing Arrangements for the manufacture of special products in canada, ireland, england, and venezuela. One of the initial sites on the tour is the old engine used by george a. Hormel in 1892. A display of popular hormel products, more than 750 different items, are produced here. Some of which are spam, cure 81 ham, hormel chili, dinty moore beef stew, and dry sausage. From balconies you can look across entire rooms of assembly, or rather, disassembly activity. The boys watch as hog carcasses are broken down into primal cuts. After chilling, the carcass passes over a firmly anchored knife, which separates the two sides. This is the first step in the disassembly of the pork side. This large saw wheel 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 began in in this fashion. Lets watch the development of the ham, one of the first meat cuts to receive attention. Painstaking care is given to ensure uniform removal of skin and fat. A close inspection of the ham follows. The hams slide down a chute onto the floor below, where they are fed onto the automatic scaling line. Each bin holds a given weight ham. The pans are automatic scales the drop the weighed ham into the correct bin. Skillfully removing the bone of hams before processing the cure 81 ham, canned ham, cooked ham, or ingredient meat for spam. Very choice hams are saved for the production of the cure 81s. Precise trimming of external and internal fat takes place. Smoking of the cure 81 hams is also done with care. Appealing color and unmatched flavor is developed in the smoking process. Here is what the finished product looks like inside, the real test of quality. Back to the pork cut, the story of bacon. 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 bank inside. The bacon side. The skins are dropped to the fleshing machine, 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. Meat trimmings are saved for other products. Once again, automation. Here we see a curing solution being injected by needles into the bacon sides. Nothing in bacon processing is more eyeappealing or mouthwatering than a view of bacon as it emerges from the stainless steel smoke chambers. A beautiful sight, isnt it . After it comes out of the smokehouse, the bacon is chilled and then formed into just the right shape so the slices come out nice and even, the way you see them in your store. A highspeed circular knife cleanly slices the bacon to uniform thickness, about 20 slices per second. After exact portions of bacon scaled, a specal saran wrap machine vacuum seals the packages for longer keeping and better appearance. Fresh longerstays went saran wrapped. The attractive packages are now ready to appear in retail counters across the country for selection by discriminating consumers. Another phase of the disassembly process is the separation of the shoulder and front feet from the carcass. Hormel pigs feet are delicacy items. The front feet from all the pigs theel buys are used in manufacture of this product. Pickled pigs feet are very tasty and attractively packaged too. The shoulders supply the skins 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 the Conveyor Belt in this spaghettilike form. A moving arm now spreads the gelatin evenly on another belt conveyer. This mattress of gelatin will travel through two dryers. The dried gelatin is now broken down into small particles and conveyed by auger to a grinder for final granulation. The finished product is weighed and packaged in bulk containers. Many hours are spent on Research Laboratories at hormel in an effort to discover new food formulas. Gelatin is one of the many hormel products that has been constantly researched. And tested. Hormel gelatin is sold to candy manufacturers for, among other things, colorful and wholesome desserts. Pork shoulder and ham meat are taken from this picnic boning line and used for the manufacture of spam, the most popular luncheon meat in the country. A picnic and ham made its first is first ground through a medium coarse plate. The meat is carefully tamped. And the canister is sealed. The dials are standardized, and the sample is placed in the electronic unit for analysis. Within 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 blades stir ground spam meat under vacuum and refrigeration until it becomes a thoroughly blended. The raw material is then pumped to the canfilling machines, where the tins are filled and vacuumsealed. The cans are then fed to the massive 65foot hydrostatic cooking tower. This huge unit is equipped with a conveyorized chain of trays that carry the cans through processing cycles of cooking, chilling, sterilizing, and drying. When fully loaded, this towering structure can hold 38,512 cans. 12ounce cans. The conveyor lines leaving the cooker carry directly to Automated Equipment for orderly assembly and packaging. The formation and packing of spam boxes is an impressive sight in itself. The box is first formed. The bottom is closed. The empty carton is positioned for filling. The case is sealed, and the product moves by elevator to the storage cooler. Another area of the hormel plant to be visited, the rugg family is directed to beef operations. A modern, on the rail dressing system moves the cattle to the mechanical skinner. Two long arms move outward and are affixed to the beef hide. This operation pulls the hide away from the rib area without scoring it or chipping into the meat. The remainder of the hide removal process is accomplished with a motorized chain. The hides are then dropped to the hide cellar. At the machine, all residue of fat and impurities are removed. Next, the hides are stretched out on a table for final trimming. Salt, a valued preservative, is added to make certain the hides can be shipped to distant tanneries without spoiling. The hides are folded and are now ready for shipment. The beef coolers at the austin plant have a Holding Capacity of over 2 Million Pounds of choice meat. They are sent to markets as quarters or sides. The hormel Institutional Department selects topquality 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 meat cuts. It takes special care at hormel to meet these very rigid specifications. Here you see choice boneless new york cut steaks being individually wrapped for a customer intent on serving the finest quality meats. A rapid freezing of the meat aids in retaining all the natural juices. Choice tenderloin steaks, boneless top sirloins, and new york cut steaks theres plenty of good eating on this table. These steaks are shown in portions ready for the broiler or grill. Now you see the end result of controlled, scientificallyaged beef. Imagine yourself enjoying this meat. The hormel Institutional Department has a challenging assignment to fulfill, that of selecting just the right kind of meat which will appeal to the discriminating diner. The hormel feed mill is the next area to be visited by the rugg family. This 90foot structure has automated facilities to make a correct feed mixture. Hormel feeds are designed to produce a pound of pork or beef at lowest cost when combined with farmraised forages and grains. Thousands of pounds of weiners are produced daily at hormel. Boneless beef and pork are the selected meat used in the einers. Ture of hormel 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 1000 pounds. Freshlyground 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 sets the standard formula on the dial. These ingredients are weighed on this scale belt en route. Spices, formulated in our own flavoring department, are bagged for each particular batch. The blended ingredients are now vacuummixed. It is next transported to the emulsifier hopper. The ingredients are completely emulsified, and the meat moves to the hopper of the stuffing machines. These ingenious machines stuff automatically stuff and link the 84foot strands of weiners. Artificial casings give them shape and form. Transferred to a conveyorized chain, the weiners travel and twoa machine wash smokehouse units, a steam cooking and water shower, and then undergo a blast chill, where the temperature is reduced to lock in all the juices and flavors. The weiners are now lifted from the chain and placed on supply tables for the stripping machine operators. This is where the artificial casings are removed. Skinless hormel weiners leave the stripping machines and fall onto a Conveyor Belt system. The weiners are next discharged onto a much wider Conveyor Belt for even distribution to four highspeed takeaway belts. The weiners hurry to a slotted stainless steel belt where free swinging deflectors arrange them into a single layer. Girls, wearing plastic gloves, do some manual alignment. The hormel weiners are vacuum packaged and then move over an electronic check where which rejects all underweight packages. There is setup to check flavor and color. Among the many considerations when marketing a product is will people like it . Taste panels determine whether new products will meet consumer acceptance. Are packed in cartons, placed on a conveyor, and headed for the loading dock. After loading refrigerated cars and trucks, the weiners are rushed to customers across the country. The tour takes a family to some production lines that can be viewed from this ideal location. Carefully selected choice beef and plump red idaho beans are used when making hormel chili. This sorting machine throws away imperfect beans. Eef, great chili lean b flavors, exotic spices. The rich blend of ingredients are placed in the containers. They are then sealed and slowly cooked, bringing out the real chili flavor. Hormel chili, piping hot and ready to eat. Mmmm. Good. Just imagine the zesty aroma and tangy taste in this bowl. Research is 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 in 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 of plant departments is constantly made to assure cleanliness. Only one word correctly describes the ingredients that go into americas favorite ready toserve stew, and that word is fresh. A key to the palatability of dinty moore beef stew is the use of potatoes and carrots which are grown in neighboring states. Electronic scales verify that the proper amount of meat has been placed in each can. The ingredients simmer together inside the can. Cooking begins after sealing of cans, to save all the flavor and freshness. One of the largest producers of quality dry sausage in the world, hormel was the first to use this rotocut machine. 20 sharp blades cut the meat and blend in spices. Strings were wrapped around dry sausage products for reinforcement many years ago. The practice continues and has since become a trademark. This woman is an expert at tying the filled casings. Dry sausage products are hung here for drying. Some remain as long as four months. The average is 70 days. Magnifico. Backwards or forwards, this attractive, eyeappealing banner calls attention to hormel genoa salami, a famous italian favorite. 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 dry sausage have been developed by hormel. Distinctive spices, excellent flavor, and color are all found in the hormel family of dry sausage products. The hormel General Office houses 120 people working in different administrative capacities. Plaques of george a. And j hormel grace the walls of the lobby. Some 8000 hormel employees are responsible for a variety of duties. Sales and livestock personnel, accountants and attorneys, physicians and engineers, a Broad Spectrum of jobs. The latest in computers and Electronic Data Processing is an integral part of the every day operations, 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 deductions, are printed in less than a halfhour. Enormous quantities of power are used to generate steam for heat, refrigeration, and electricity. Trained personnel are needed to oversee, control, and maintain these complex systems. The sheet metal shop, a busy, noisy place, galvanized metal and stainless steel are constantly being shaped into ducts and chutes, improvements and replacements of existing facilities are made. Craftsmen, with ingenuity, imagination, and skilled hands are necessary in this plant. Highly mechanized plant. Even the most mode machinery requires some personal attention. This power brake is used to shape large or small pieces of metal into proper sizes for a variety of applications. Spot welding, a quick method of tacking two pieces of lightweight metal together. Highly skilled machinists make many repairs. Hard steel knives cut and shape various metals required to make necessary replacement parts. Nstruments keep humidity and temperatures constant. New recording disks are installed daily. Products areealing manufactured have helped build he American Consumers acceptance of these various hormel products. Tour was designed to acquaint the rugg family with of the hormel companys everyday operations. On visiting us soon . You are always welcome at who m at hormel, the home of food products. Hormels annual fiscal report 9. 3 gross sales of billion. It has more than 20,000 mployees and is still headquartered in austin, minnesota. History tv ican noll discusses his between about the bible 1492 and 1783. E argues that americans frequently relied on the bible to support and oppose political ideas. Hosted this nter 90minute program. It is my pleasure to introduce this afternoons speak mark noll thessor professor of history at dame. Rsity of notre hes the author of many books ncluding god and race in american politics, a short history published in 2008. Theologicalr and