Precious protein for the food insecure

MCC’s Mobile Meat Canner makes annual Mountain Lake stop

 

 

mcc_logo featureEvery year the MCC’s (Mennonite Central Committee) Mobile Meat Canner travels across the United States and Canada meeting volunteers who prepare cans of turkey, beef, chicken and pork to be sent around the world. Over 30,000 people a year volunteer to fill, weigh, wash and label every can with meat for people in need overseas.

The seven-month canning season – this year running from October 2016 through April 2017 – will see the mobile meat canner making stops in Ohio, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, as well as Ontario and Manitoba in Canada.

The canned meat is distributed to people in Haiti, Ethiopia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Burkina Faso, Uganda Zambia, Canada, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) – along with the United States – and other places where protein sources are difficult to purchase locally. In North Korea, canned meat is distributed through their partners, Christian Friends of Korea. All told, 548,832 canned meat shipments were distributed around the world during April 2015 through March 2016.

The mobile cannery is in the area – at Elmendorf Christian Community southeast of Mountain Lake – today (Thursday, November 17) and tomorrow (Friday, November 18), where local volunteers are doing their part in the feed-the-world effort. According to Vern Goering, assistance from high school-age students from Mountain Lake Christian and Mountain Lake Public is very important in boosting the output

This year featured a new, better canner with a crew of three serving a two-year term as canner operators. The trio includes Carsten Wiebe and Claudio Regier, both of Neuland, Paraguay and Matthew Blosser of Goshen, Indiana.

MCC’s meat canning program has been operating since 1946, when it was part of the relief effort of war torn countries of Europe. Its purpose is to provide safe, nourishing food in settings affected by war, disaster and malnutrition.

 

 

 

 

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THE NEW MCC Mobile Meat Canner is ready to roll. (Photo courtesy of MCC)

 

 

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ARNOLD HARDER SENDS the turkey thighs through the meat grinder, cutting it into 3/4″ chunks. The containers of turkey thighs are kept in a refrigerated reefer trailer as they await use.

 

 

 

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UP IN THE mobile unit, Vern Goering, left, fills the sterilized cans with the chopped turkey meat, while Pratoomporn Harder, right, adds salt seasoning.

 

 

 

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WEIGHING – AND ADDING meat to the cans if necessary – are Diane Dick, left and David Harder, right.

 

 

 

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THE UNSEALED CANS then travel down the conveyor to the lidding machine. The sealed cans are then packed into a huge cylindrical metal basket. When the basket is filled with 140 cans, it is hoisted into a steam pressure canner. Assisting canner crew members Carsten Wiebe and Claudio Regier is Ramont Harder Schrock.

 

 

 

 

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THE PRESSURE CANNERS reach 246 degrees Fahrenheit in order to cook and sterilize the meat. The mobile unit feature six pressure canners.

 

 

 

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WHEN COOKED TO the required temperature, and for the proper amount of time, the basket of cans is removed from the cooker and each can is wiped dry.

 

 

 

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THE NEXT STEP is to glue labels on the cans. Elaine Kauffman, pastor of First Mennonite of Mountain Lake, deftly does this duty.

 

 

 

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AFTER THE LABEL is affixed, each can is sent through a counter and on to be packaged. Hands of all ages are on deck to move the cans on their way. Above, Anna Harder Schrock, front, assists her dad, Ramont Harder Schrock, as well as Loyal Klassen, at back, in heading the cans in the right direction.

 

 

 

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THE CANS ARE placed in the shipping boxes by Ramont Harder Schrock, left and Loyal Klassen, right,

 

 

 

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A FULL SHIPPING box ready to be closed and placed beside the growing stacks of packaged goods.

 

 

 

 

 

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