Carson Valley Meats responds to resident concerns on Slaughterhouse; opposition groups plan rally at City Hall

Local residents and groups appealing the Carson City Planning Committee’s approval of the Carson Valley Meats processing facility will be hosting a rally to protest the decision.

According to Jennifer Verive, one of the appellants who stated she is representing the neighborhood on Highway 50 East near the proposed location, residents are concerned with odors and sounds, uses of chemicals and their potential run off into Carson City’s drinking water, the potential for flies, what methods will be used, and how often animals will be on the property.

About the Facility

Carson Valley Meats proposed to build a USDA-certified meat harvesting and processing facility in the industrial zone on Highway 50 East, and their application was accepted by the Carson City Planning Commission.

The facility will be limited to harvesting 60 animals per week, with harvest only occurring one day a week. There is an exception for special events such as the 4H and FFA fairs, which will be allowed three times per year and can be extended to three days each, harvesting a maximum of 120 animals during the week.

The facility will also include a retail counter offering prepackaged, USDA certified meats.

The facility will also process wild game brought in by hunters.

You can read the full application as well as the staff report here.

Concerns over odors and sounds

Verive stated that a major concern of residents is the potential for odors and sounds to reach nearby homes.

According to the staff report, the closest homes to the proposed facility are approximately 900 feet, but Verive believes the proper distance should be closer to 3 miles.

“There’s a terrible noise — a very loud bellowing of cattle or squealing of pigs as they’re dropped off,” said Verive. “The noise is going to be very loud. There’s a lot of dogs in the neighborhoods — it’s going to be really noisy. And then there’s the horrible sounds of the animals being slaughtered, as popularized in the movie ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ Animals make terrible noises as they’re going into slaughter.”

In the staff report, staff stated that “the site has been designed and operation protocols will be in place to eliminate any problems relating to noise and odor that are associated with the proposed use.”

However, Verive says that she, the other appellants, and the community need to know more about what the design techniques and operation protocols are exactly, and that much needs to be clarified within both the application and the staff report.

In addition, the residents stated they have several concerns over the potential for odors to leave the property and reach nearby residences.

“This is our community,” said Verive. “I’m not a country girl. I live in Carson City. I didn’t move to Lyon County, to Dayton, to Douglas. I moved to Carson City 20 years ago. I don’t want to hang out with animals, I don’t want to smell them. The ranchers say ‘oh, the smell isn’t bad,’ but that’s only because they are used to it.”

“The facility will be kept clean, with fluid waste and fat stored in a refrigerated tank that is regularly pumped by the rendering company; and all solid wastes will be treated with industry-standard denature and stored in refrigerated containers until they are also picked up by the rendering company,” said Carson Valley Meats.

According to Verive, the initial concern was over the animals being housed in outdoor corrals for the 24-hour holding period prior to slaughter. However, during the planning commission meeting, Carson Valley Meats agreed to creating an indoor holding pen so that there would be less of a potential for exposure to the community.

“Enclosing them does sound like a good thing, but there’s not evidence to suggest it will make a difference,” said Verive.

Verive stated they are concerned with the smell coming from both manure as well as the harvest itself, and that the manure as well as the animal carcasses will inundate the neighborhood with flies.

However, in order to be able to operate, all manure must be taken off the property within 24 hours of harvest, and cannot be stored on the property. During special events, when an increased number of animals may be on the property for up to 3 days maximum, manure must be taken out on a daily basis.

“Manure from the animals housed in the indoor corral will be cleaned out and hauled away,” according to Carson Valley Meats. “We don't anticipate any more flies from our indoor corral facility than are attracted to deer manure from wild deer or waste from domestic animals that are left unattended in your backyard. USDA will shut us down if we have any flies on the meat. There will be no flies inside the harvest and processing room.”

Concerns over chemicals and water runoff

One concern raised by Verive and the residents were concerns over chemicals used in the facility, referring to a process called “denaturing.”

Denaturing is simply applying an agent to meat or meat byproducts unfit for human consumption to mark them as such.

According to federal provisions, agents prescribed for denaturing carcasses, meat or meat products include charcoal; crude carbolic acid, used in household agents such as cleaners or mouthwash; cresylic disinfectant, used in a variety of antiseptics and disinfectants; a formula consisting of food coloring, water, liquid detergent and citronella, or other proprietary substance approved in specific cases.

The residents stated they were concerned that the chemical, though they could not specify which chemical they were referring to, “could be very hazardous” and that it could wash into the sewer systems, leech into Carson River and into Carson City’s water supply.

However, Carson City’s sewer system is not connected to its drinking water supply, and according to staff findings, the depth to the water table of the property is greater than 80 inches.

Furthermore, according to the application provided and approved by the planning commission, all processing will take place inside the facility.

“The entire harvesting process will occur indoors,” the application states. “During this process, liquid is captured in a collection tank, prior to going down the drain and the tank is pumped out as needed. The processing floor is swept before wash down to capture any solids, and the resulting waste stream goes through a screening process prior to discharge to the treatment system.”

In order to be operational, the facility also must hold USDA certification which will include daily inspections, as well as a wastewater discharge permit from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, and permits through the Carson City Health Department.

Staff also stated that in the conceptual drainage study it was found that there would be no negative impact to downstream facilities and surrounding areas.

“All by-products, including blood and other liquids will be collected in refrigerated tanks and removed from the facility via the rendering company,” said Carson Valley Meats. “All wastewater from cleaning will be going to the sewer. Nothing will be going to the river.”

Verive also stated the residents were concerned that workers would be exposed to blood borne pathogens during slaughter.

“They’re going to be slitting throats and exsanguinating animals, and all that blood is going to be on the floor and all the gook that’s inside them; what I learned is that half the cow is waste, only 50 percent is usable meat,” said Verive. “That’s a lot of pathogens.”

Carson Valley Meats stated that their workers will be protected not only due to their own regulations but by the presence of the USDA inspector.

“We will follow all OSHA guidelines for worker protections, including the use of PPE (personal protective equipment) including gloves, gowns, hairnets, masks, eye protection and face shields,” said Carson Valley Meats. “Additionally, a USDA inspector will be on-site every harvest day to ensure the health and safety of our workers and product.”

Methods used on site

According to Verive, when Carson Valley Meats were attempting to open their facility on the site of the old Storke Dairy in Centerville, they stated that the practices used during holding and harvest would be ethical and humane, including using the Temple Gratin Method, which is an outline for how to best harvest animals in a way that will keep them calm and therefore provide better meat.

However, Verive stated that in discussions regarding the Carson City site, what processes will be used has not been touched on either by staff or by Carson Valley Meats, and she believes the community should have a right to know exactly how the animals will be processed to maintain that it is being done in an ethical and humane way.

According to Carson Valley Meats, the Temple Grandin method is integral to how their operation is run, and they are committed to following her example.

“We absolutely respect and follow the Temple Grandin philosophy and guidelines for humane treatment. Mike has met and has been observed by Dr. Grandin during a harvest. We are committed to following Dr. Grandin's vision and process,” said Carson Valley Meats. “As for the animals, unless someone is abusing them they won’t be screaming, and if we find someone is abusing them we will handle it appropriately or be shut down by USDA.”

Animals on site

According to Verive, another major concern from the residents is that they believe the time animals will be on the property is not clearly defined due to the exemption of special events.

In the application packet, it states that typical harvesting will occur one day per week with a maximum of 60 animals, but during a fair or special event, harvest could be expanded from 1 day a week up to 3 days per week, with a maximum of 120 animals.

During the meeting, it was further limited to three times per year, but residents are concerned that the language is not well defined in the application.

Verive believes that this wording leaves the “times per year” up for interpretation, because while the exemption is only allowed three times per year, it does not specify how long each “time” could be, and she is concerned harvest could last for weeks at a time.

“It would be great to have some clarification,” said Verive. “(The planning commission) did limit it to three (times per year); still, we don’t know what that is, there’s a lot of assumption. They want us to make the assumption that (each event is) only going to be a week, but that’s not what the words say.”

“While the fairs last several days, the animals are delivered immediately after the fair to be processed,” said Carson Valley Meats. "Special events in our case are for 4-H or FFA fairs only.”

Per the terms of the application packet, live animals can only be on site for a maximum of 36 hours, which includes a 24-hour holding period as well as the following processing, as the facility can only be in operation Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Animals can only be delivered one day per week.

The exception to this rule pertains to the three allotted special events per year, during which this time can be extended for up to three days with a maximum of 120 animals harvested and processed immediately following the special events, doubling the regularly allotted 60 animals per week during non-special event weeks.

During special events, the facility will only be taking animals from those fairs, and normally scheduled animals would be moved to a different week for processing.

Animals other than local livestock and game will not be processed; for example, a rumor spread through mediums such as NextDoor that the facility was actually going to be used to slaughter wild mustangs and will be run by the BLM.

“This is absolutely false,” said Carson Valley Meats. “There is not one slaughter plant in the United States that is harvesting wild or domestic horses, nor will we.”

The Rally

Verive and others who oppose the slaughterhouse will be hosting a protest on Saturday at City Hall at 1 p.m., hoping to drum up enough of a response to have the approval revoked when it goes before the Carson City Board of Supervisors.

“We’re only trying to show that they don’t seem to have a community-oriented perspective,” said Verive. "Every zip code in our city is represented on this issue. We're not against a slaughterhouse, we just want it in a different location."