CNFA: American expert assistance is provided for modernizing a slaughterhouse in the North of RM

CNFA: American expert assistance is provided for modernizing a slaughterhouse in the North of RM

• 28.09.2010

Between September 9 and September 24, a company from the North of Moldova has benefited from American consultative assistance focused on modernizing in accordance with the present standards of the slaughterhouse currently owned by the business. The assistance was provided on a voluntary basis by Mr. Ron Stratton, who is both president and owner of a meat processing facility. He was selected on a contest basis for participating in the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, implemented in our country by the USAID-funded organization CNFA.

Together with the management of Total-Gnatiuc LTD, located in the village of Fundurii Vechi, Glodeni district, Ron Stratton has performed a detailed assessment of all the existing compartments of the slaughterhouse and has set the sanitary and epidemiological requirements that are to be met for ensuring food safety. Furthermore, the expert has designed detailed blueprints for the slaughterhouse redesigning or construction, including for floor, sanitary objects, electric cable display schematics, refrigeration areas, elevators, etc. Ron Stratton has also provided the business management with consultancy on matters of selecting construction materials and necessary equipment, and has also developed a schematic chart for the slaughterhouse reconstruction and modernization.

„Our main objective is to establish sanitary conditions according to the highest existing standards in the field”, Lidia Gnatiuc, a representative of Total-Gnatiuc LTD management, states. “We would also like to set a positive example and thus contribute to the further modernizing and development processes in the whole region we’re living in, and maybe in the whole country”, Lidia Gnatiuc mentions.

The American expert Ron Stratton strongly believes the intention of the Gnatiucs from Fundurii Vechi has a real chance to succeed and is willing to contribute with his own experience and efforts to implementing these ideas. “If advanced sanitary standards are implemented, this will allow the business to diversify the product line and the market”, Ron Stratton states. “In order to achieve this, meat primary processing equipment is required to be purchased, in accordance with more advanced practices”, the expert adds.
The slaughterhouse currently owned by Total-Gnatiuc LTD has a total slaughtering and primary meat processing capacity of almost 3 tons daily. Total-Gnatiuc also owns a mini-farm for milk and meat production, and has recently benefited from assistance focused on increasing productivity, provided by another American expert.

The FtF program provides the farmers’ groups, cooperatives, and agribusinesses with the opportunity to benefit from free American consultancy in order to improve their performances, by ensuring them a professional approach of the technical and financial matters. The consultancy is provided during a period of up to three weeks for two strategic agricultural sub-sectors - production of fruit and vegetables and dairy products. The estimated value of the consultancy for the year 2010 is of almost $1 million.

For details please contact Nadejda MOCANU, Farmer-to-Farmer Program Coordinator (tel.: 022 24 03 11, 069 260 005, nmocanu@moldova.cnfa.org, www.cnfa.md)