This is my second wrangle with inflation. And just when you think you've got it all figured out, you get thrown a curve ball.
Back in 1991(ish) I started working for an engineering firm in Greenville, SC. I picked the absolute wrong time to move...but where I was just seemd like the wrong time to stay.
The Land of Corn and DIRT
We flew into....well, to be honest, I'm not sure what airport we flew into. The final destination was Mattoon, Illinois. If you've never heard of the place, don't be disappointed (see the red thingy in the map below). I think we may have flown into the Indianapolis Airport.
From my recollection, the drive to Mattoon was notable for one thing: CORN. And lots of it. Square miles of corn. More than you could shake a stick at. I was already familiar with the deep dark rich topsoil in Illinois and especially Iowa, having driven through those regions as a young college kid.
I had asked why all the fields were burnt."Everything in the field was black", I inquired.Being from South Carolina (the "Sandlapper State" I should note, called this for a reason) how could I have conceived the possibility of that blackened field actually being the soil?
As we drove closer to the plant, true to the song...the corn really was as high as an elephant's eye. And it most certainly climbed way up to the sky. As we got closer to the plant, the path cleared and you could finally see it over the tops of the vast swaths of green stalks of corn.
Destination: Dog Food
This was the regional manufacturing facility for Kibbles 'n Bits (parent company being Mars). We were tasked to help them upgrade the plant to handle the complex food processing of pet food.
By this time, we had already met with the Plant Manager Charlie Brokaw. We already knew what they wanted to attain. We even pitched an idea (that they pounced on as the best idea) using some newly introduced equipment into the Americas. What I didn't know at the time but found out years later, it was to become the supplier's largest usage of their equipment in the USA. For some number of years, it was the go-to place to see their equipment in operation in a food processing plant.
After we signed in we waited for Charlie to catch up with us from his meeting. We were told the plant was shut down and we could go in and look the place over while we waited. I don't recall a lot about the plant. But, most grain based food processing plants are very similar. This pet food facility was very similar to a Kellogg or General Mills Food Processing plant that make human breakfast cereals.
What the...? What is that?
However....there was one thing that struck me. On the opposite end of the facility (food processing plants are enclosed, BTW) was an adjacent area that looked like a board room or conference room. It was brightly lighted and in stark contrast to the processing plant that had very few lights on due to being shut down.
There was something very odd about it... We were too far to make out any details. There was a long conference table with maybe a dozen chairs. And....something else I couldn't make out. I signaled the other engineers to go with me to check it out.
We went into the conference room and just couldn't figure out the scene. What did it mean? In front of each chair was an empty bowl and a box of Kibbles 'n Bits.
I looked at the others. "What are they doing? What is this?" They didn't know either. There was that dissonance your brain was having to go through to make sense of it all.
We made our way back to the Administration Building and headed to the cafeteria to continue to wait for Charlie. Luckily, we didn't have to wait long.
As we chatted, I asked Charlie about the setup we saw in the conference room.
"Charlie, what's that all about? Were you going to bring in dogs to taste the kibbles?
"Well, not really. Dogs don't go by taste, they mainly go by smell."
That didn't really answer my question.
"So what's the setup about?" I was trying to have him TELL us rather me saying something that seemed preposterous.
"We eat 'em." he said - smiling.
I was just blown away. "You EAT them? That's crazy. Is it....uh...safe??"
His smile got bigger. "Oh yes. It's very safe."
"How so?", I asked
"We build the plants to human consumption standards".
That stunned me. And then...he told the story within the story.
The Big Reveal
"Back in the 70s as inflation kept raging higher and higher, there were rumors that the elderly on fixed incomes could no longer afford meat. The only thing they could afford was dog food. This really concerned us. So we took it upon ourselves to upgrade our pet food processing plants to meet human consumption standards."
Well, the gears in my head started spinning. First, in order to understand the undertaking, there has to be a basis from which to start. Normally. But in this case I can only infer what had to be done knowing what a modern food processing facility CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) plant must abide by.
What would it take?
Generally, a food processing facility must accomplish at least two things:
1) the food must maintain presentability
2) the food must be safe to eat and maintain flavor/taste.
Now, I'm no expert. It's been a long time since I was involved in food processing, per se. But there are some general guidelines we can surmise.
In order for the food to be presentable, there can be no observable rust or other foreign material . This means:
1) no carbon steel parts in contact with the food. Otherwise, there could be particles of rust. So, generally, equipment that come in contact with the food ingredients must be made of non-rusting components such as stainless steels.
2) The processed food must be free of any metals. This nessitates the use of metal detection equipment. Magnets won't work with stainless steels.
3) No glass is allowed inside the plant. I don't know if this is industry wide, but the clients I dealt with allowed zero glass in the process or within the processing environment/plant.
4) Workers in the processing plant, must wear appropriate clothing to prevent hair from getting into the food. Refrain from wearing any loose items or jewelry while in the processing area of the plant.
In order for the food to maintain flavor and be safe, there are one of two environments that need to be maintained:
1) the food must be maintained at a high enough temperature to kill bacteria or,
2) the food must be maintained at a low enough temperature to prevent the growth of bacteria.
3) I could add a 3rd possibility as pH. But I can't state that as a fact. Probably depends on what is processed.
Now, from this point on, it can get very complicated with special valves that are engineered to minimize the hold-up of liquids or allow the automatic flushing to remove fluids that could become contaminated. Also, there is the use of CIP (clean-in-place) procedures and equipment, internal equipment design, etc. The list goes on and on.
So, with all of this information that I have - and I don't know even the half of it - what kind of price tag would you put on upgrading an 1970's pet food facility to a people food facility?
What would be the cost?
We can break the costs down into three segments:
1) The direct costs to upgrade the plant
2) The direct costs to the employees of the plant
3) The costs to the consumers
1) The direct costs to upgrade the plant
If I had to guess, I would guess anywhere from 40 to 60 per cent of the original plant cost. This is just a complete wild guess.
2) The direct costs to the employees of the plant
But...there was one other characteristic I left out of the re-designed plant. By the late1970s and early 1980s, computer process control became the norm. All those 1960s and early 1970s plants that were upgraded? Once the conversion would be completed, probably upwards of 50% of the operations staff could be laid off. We can only hope they were reassigned to other plants built or yet to be built.
Now if you are a bonafide expert, don't bother writing me explaining where I am wrong. This was never meant to be an "expert's opinion". This was meant to be a general discussion that explains what all could go into the design of a food plant. In fact, I didn't even mention nutrition. This was a complication I didn't want to deal with.
3) The costs to the consumers
But there is one other Unintended Consequence of upgrading the plant to people food standards. The plant upgrade costs still have to be paid for. The only way to do this would be....to RAISE THE COST OF THE PET FOOD, thus impacting the people who they were trying to protect.
So, there you have it. Who wins in inflationary times?
No one.
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