The Guts Are Holding Back Oklahoma Meat Processors in 2021
Here's something you never expect to read about...
I stumbled across an article from KOSU about how Oklahoma's meat processors are having trouble getting rid of the animal parts people don't regularly consume, and it's making a big negative impact on small processors and packers. They're so busy taking in work, they're running out of places to store the various parts that makeup what we all know to be "the guts."
According to the article, this stuff is normally stored in large, sealed, and labeled trash cans until it either gets picked up by a trash service or it goes downstream to be further processed into other products... but until it's picked up, it is piling up as more and more people order their custom packed meats.
That is one giant, nasty problem... but like all problems in history, the first to find a solution could be earning a huge reward in the form of growing a new business out of ingenuity. In moments of legitimate need like this, I think back on how Henry Ford created Kingsford Charcoal.
When the Model T was first gaining popularity, the world's first mass-produced vehicle contained about a hundred board feet of wood in its construction. As production scaled, the lumber bill skyrocketed high enough that Henry Ford bought a forest and built his own mill to keep his long-term costs down. It was a smart move with one problem...
As a sawmill produces perfect lumber, there is a significant amount of waste in the form of small branches, stumps, and massive amounts of sawdust that accumulate during the process. As not to be wasteful, Henry Ford built a charcoal plant next door that took all of Ford's lumber scraps and transformed it into the modern-day charcoal briquet. His trash became a treasure that earned good revenue.
Why can't we apply a similar thought process to the gut problem meat processors are having right now?
For years, the trend in dog food has been a return to natural products. The corporate tradition of feeding our pooches corn and wheat has waned in lieu of giving them something comprised mostly of fish and chicken. There's even a cold case in most pet stores where you can buy raw foods for your dog similar to what we're talking about.
It would likely be a very smelly job, but to produce all of these leftovers into a safe and edible product for pets would probably be a very lucrative one.
First off, as it's such a building problem, the storage of this stuff, you'd probably be able to get it for free or nearly free... Pet people spend stupid amounts of money on their pets food and treats as if dogs didn't eat feces from time to time... and you could do it your own way as a small business.
If guts are the problem, have the guts to be the solution. It's nearly 2022, time to take a risk and carve out your own American dream.