Transcript Final Report

Sustainability
McGill Feeding McGill
Final Report
Macdonald Campus Farm
Poultry Complex
Supplying Eggs to McGill Staff,
Students and Faculty
The Objective
Our goal is to provide fresh Grade A eggs to McGill Food Services for their
many nutritious meals produced in McGill cafeteria’s, as well as to the
students and staff. The Poultry Unit is ready to be just one of many who
contribute goods or services to the McGill Community.
There were some obstacles that had to be overcome.
First we had to determine if we could sell our eggs to the public, second we
needed to locate an egg grading machine, third find funding for the egg
grader and fourth we had to find a location to put the egg grader with little
or no renovations that would not disrupt any of our mission objectives.
On the plus side we had very strong support from McGill Food Services, the
Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and the
Sustainability Project itself.
The Process
First step was to contact the Fédération des Producteurs D’Ouefs de
Consommation du Quebec to see what the rules and regulations were and
determine if we could sell the eggs to the public, in the manner that we
wanted, without becoming a registered Grading Station and susceptible to the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Rules and Regulations. It was
determined that we could not so the CFIA was contacted and that process
was initiated in April of 2011.
The second step was to locate a manufacturer of an egg grader of the
appropriate size. After consultation with other Poultry producers and
personnel it was determined that a suitable machine was available in the
United States , inquiries were made and a quote was obtained from
National Poultry Equipment in Osage, Iowa.
The Process
continued
The Third step was to find the Funding, we had already had contact
with the Sustainability Project and knew that we had to write a proposal
to the Project. The idea of writing a proposal can be a daunting task but
the people that were in charge made the writing of the proposal as easy
as possible and as they also supported the idea the process was easier.
The last step was the location, the Poultry personnel narrowed the search
down to two possibilities which were then shown to Inspectors from the
CFIA. The CFIA advised on the best location and the process to become
an Egg Grading Station was started.
The Benefits
The egg grader is a machine that will be used for demonstrations to students
from the graduate, under graduate and FMT levels. The purchase of the egg
grader will also give the Poultry Unit an opportunity to join the growing initiative
“McGill Feeding McGill” program.
This egg grading machine will also be a valuable teaching tool in a number of
departments which would include the Farm Management Technology Program,
Food Science and Animal Science to name just a few. The machine will also be
an incentive to companies that want to do research in the Poultry Unit on a
contract basis.
The students will have an opportunity to see firsthand how an everyday
consumable product is brought from the barn to the table. They will also see the
process of egg grading and how the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
. regulations and procedures are put into place on a working poultry farm.
As new or current graduate students are introduced to the Poultry Unit, the
training and use for teaching, research or demonstrations would increase.
In Closing
As we write this report we are still waiting for the CFIA to authorize
the Poultry Unit to start grading eggs and it could take another month
or so but we anticipate being able to provide quality, nutritious eggs
to the McGill Community in a safe an orderly manner by the fall of
2012.
In the Beginning
Finding the right room was easy, this
room had very little use in the
previous six (6) years. The incubator
you see here was relocated so that
both incubators are in the same room.
Egg Grader Asembly
Assembly of first half of Egg Grader
Egg Grader Assembly
Assembly of second half of Egg Grader
Hole in wall
The Egg grader is so long that we had
to cut a24” X 24” hole in the wall so
that it would fit.
Final Assembly
Egg Grader put together and
operational.
Final Assembly
Egg Grader put together and
operational
Final Assembly
The Egg Grader is over seventeen feet
long.