The months of waiting for a feasibility study on a proposed multi-species meat processing plant in Carroll County have passed, and while local officials say the release of the study is a major step forward in the project, it doesn’t answer all the necessary questions.

Six months ago, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners approved $27,000 in funding for the study, to be performed by Pacific Process Ltd. of New Zealand. Now, after nearly a year and a half after the project was first proposed, the county has a study in hand, and officials say it has been a long time coming.

Delays in the process stemmed largely from the innovative nature of the proposed facility. As it was originally planned in the spring of 2009, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia would perform a study to determine if a multi-species meat processing plant could be successful in Carroll County. The university, however, simply didn’t have the capabilities to perform the kind of study the county extension office needed to move forward.

There are only a handful of facilties like the one proposed for Carroll County in the entire world, with the closest being in Europe. The plant would qualify as a new generation eco-friendly and environmentally friendly facility. It would be fueled largely by solar power, with any excess in power sold back to local electric utilities.

Workers would be paid more than minimum wage and would be offered pensions. During the work day, employees would cut meat using ergonomic machines that cut down on the toll that repetitive work takes on the body. All water used in the plant would be recycled, with the water leaving the plant being cleaner than that taken in.

The nearly 100-page study takes all this into account, though it doesn’t provide a clear verdict on whether it’s financially and realistically possible for the implementation of such a plant in Carroll County, said Commissioner George Chambers, a cattle farmer who lives just outside of Bowdon and a national voice in the dialogue over the sustainability of food sources. Before the matter can be settled, Chambers said, Pacific Process needs to fill in some of the gaps left open in the study, namely how much it’s going to cost to operate and whether solar power can feasibly be implemented to power the plant.

“Before I go out on a limb, I want to make sure I know all about it,” Chambers said. “I think where we go from here, the logical thing is to try to digest this fully and make a list of questions ... I did not see in there where they addressed the solar issue. That was one of the biggies on the deal. We’d hope it would be a net energy provider. You’d be generating more power on the panels on the roof than what you’d be using.”

The need for such a facility is evident, Chambers said. Last year alone, the agriculture industry in the county accounted for $170 million in revenue, and a local plant would ensure that those farmers get more money for the livestock and poultry they produce. The market is there for it, too. Within 100 miles of Carroll County, there are roughly 8 million people, Chambers said, and most of them eat meat on a regular basis and would be potential customers of a local processing plant. Not only that, but there are plenty of restaurants in the area as well as organizations — like school systems, correctional institutions and medical centers — that would be more than welcoming of a local food source.

One of the biggest benefits of developing a local plant, Chambers said, is the prevention of food-born illnesses such as salmonella and e coli. Most traditional processing plants process an entire animal in 16 minutes, going through roughly 9,000 animals in each 16-hour work day. That kind of speed breeds contamination. The problem isn’t in the meat itself. It’s in the way the meat is butchered.

“There’s too much room for error,” he said. “Because of the high speed, there’s cross contamination, and that’s where disease comes from. It’s not on these cows. It’s getting on their carcasses on the processing end. It’s not on the cows when they’re coming in there. This project would take the margin of error out.”

What’s more, traditional plants butcher all animals the same way, making waste of some of the choicer cuts that could in turn make it more fiscally possible for a farmer to maintain his farm. Farmers have few alternatives to selling to big name meat packagers now because frankly, there aren’t any other options. This would change all that.

If a local plant is successful, it would ultimately serve to educate the public that buying meat and other products that aren’t contaminated with chemicals, hormones and antibiotics are not only better for you, but they can also come at the same price as food that isn’t raised organically and allowed to grow as nature intended. It’s not just about food, he said. It’s about changing the way Americans think about the lifestyle that comes with the food they eat.

“You talk about putting a sustainable system right here. You raise it here, you feed it to the kids, and they grow up eating and enjoying this food. You have a paradigm shift,” Chambers said. “To make this thing work, you’ve got to get back to a family sitting down and preparing a wholesome meal. I know we’re running at the speed of light, with high-speed Internet and with cell phones and what not. Until you make a product that’s wholesome and that’s good to you and good for you at an affordable price, you’re not going to see this shift. But it’s coming. I’ll be long gone off the Board of Commissioners, but when this thing takes off and people get the concept and the light bulb goes off in their head, they’ll realize there’s no difference in the price, and there’s certainly a difference in the way they feel after they eat it.”