Today we visited an ornamental nursery called Cali nurseries. This ornamental nursery has many varieties of flowers used for landscaping, holiday gifts, decorations, etc. After we toured the different facilities and types of flowers grown at Calinurseries, our guide showed us the process of creating potting mix, potting flowers to sell, and the process of propogation. Finally, our guide explained to us both the successes and challenges of his ornamental nursery. For example, despite the bad economy, he is still able to be successful by scaling back his nursery operations. After the nursery we left for our next visit.
After lunch, the group went to the To-Rico Chicken processing plant to observe the process of packaging chicken in the plants facilities. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed in the facility because of security reasons so I was unable to share any photos for this. Bummer
:(
brief description of the visit (for security reasons):
"Before the group could go in, they had to dress up with gowns, hairnets, and boots for sanitary purposes. The guide explained that packaging chicken requires extremely clean conditions and because of this visitors and workers had to be properly dressed. The temperature of the facility must always be at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below to prevent the growth of bacteria and the facility itself can be describes as cold and full of noisy machinery. There were hundreds of whole chickens hanging from hooks and moving in a smooth and orderly fashion :P The chickens are cut and the pieces are separated and packaged for the market. Packaging consist of vacuum sealing prevent the growth of bacteria.
As the group moved on, they observed that the chicken parts such as hearts, livers, and gizzards are removed and separated because these parts are a high risk for infection. Finally, they were informed that before chickens are slaughtered, there is much attention given to making it as humane as possible. For example, before chickens are slaughtered, the lights are dimmed to keep the chickens calm. And at the moment before slaughter, chickens are stunned with electricity so they wont feel anything. Despite these measures, it was still an experience for the group watching the chickens being processed and packaged."
Just to let everyone know I didnt go inside of the facility! After my incident on the EEA-Lajas animal farm I didnt want to risk it so I opted out on the tour. The information is from the interns.
Todays visits concluded our fieldtrips for the rest of our time here. The remainder of the week will be spent preparing for final presentations!
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