Consultancy Opportunity: Advancing Beef Innovation in Georgia

CONSULTANCY OPPORTUNITY

Advancing Beef Innovation in Georgia

USDA Food for Progress Safety and Quality Investment in Livestock Project

Tbilisi, Georgia

Background: Land O’Lakes’ Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-fork, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.

Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 40 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries.

Project Description: The USDA Food for Progress Safety and Quality Investment in Livestock (SQIL) project is an eight-year demand-driven project that will improve food safety and quality along Georgia’s dairy and beef value chains. From farm-to-fork, USDA Food for Progress SQIL aims to reduce losses, improve food safety and quality, boost competitiveness, productivity and trade within the Georgian dairy and beef market systems. The project achieves these goals through an integrated approach of expanding market access, improving sanitary standards, strengthening postharvest handling and storage, increasing productivity, improving access to finance, and promoting regulatory reforms.

Purpose and Objectives of the Assignment: The Consultant will work with select USDA Food for Progress SQIL portfolio companies to offer on-site technical assistance to five private sector partners to support their development of new or improvements in existing beef products and processing technologies. In addition, the Consultant will provide remote support to up to four slaughterhouses to re-assess and validate their fresh meat shelf-life based on existing laboratory results conducted by the USDA Food for Progress SQIL Project to provide the scientific basis for their application to the National Food Agency (NFA) for an extended shelf-life of beef carcasses.

Consultant Tasks: To complete this scope of work, the Consultant is expected to complete the following task:

• Review and repackage the results from a previously conducted shelf-life trial of beef carcasses at the individual slaughterhouse level to equip the slaughterhouses with the scientific data required to substantiate a longer shelf-life than the current 48-hour limit set by the NFA. (Remote)
• Provide 10 working days of onsite technical support to five private sector partners to improve their development of new or existing beef products. Details on the requested areas of technical support may be found below:
• Company 2 (Expected 3 on-site working days): Support their testing and development of a new product – beef jerky. Provide technical advice to the company on developing and packaging new smallgoods products such as sausages that require cooking prior to consumption.
• Company 3 (Expected 1 on-site working days): Conduct a review of current production and processing practices and offer recommendations for improvements. Support their food safety and quality team to develop the internal documentation and documented methodology for determining shelf-life for new meat products. Offer technical assistance and guidance on the development of new beef products such as sausages, how to implement improved packaging practices for existing products, and improvement in butchery practices.
• Company 4 (Expected 1 on-site working days): Review and analyze current production technological process and offer recommendations to optimize and improve yield. Support their food safety and quality team to develop the internal documentation and documented methodology for determining shelf-life for new meat products. Offer technical assistance and guidance on the development of new beef products: such as sausages, aged meat, improved packaging of existing products.
• Company 5 (Expected 2 on-site working days): Review and analyze current production technological process and offer recommendations to optimize and improve yield. Support their food safety and quality team to develop the internal documentation and documented methodology for determining shelf-life for new meat products. Offer technical assistance and guidance on the development of new beef products: such as sausages, aged meat, improved packaging of existing products.
• Prepare a written report per each company visited those documents findings and recommendations. Included in the report should be written guidance or standard operating procedures for implementing new products and individual shelf-life validation instructions for each company supported.
• A brief final report for the project summarizing technical assistance provided and recommended next steps for the companies and project for further assistance if required.

Deliverables: Under this scope of work, the Consultant is expected to complete the following deliverables:

• Individual slaughterhouse reports containing their individual data from the shelf-life trials and other required scientific data to support their application to the NFA for an extended shelf-life.
• Two weeks (envisioned 10 working days) of onsite technical consultations to the five private sector beef processors to support their introduction of new or improve development of existing beef products.
• A written report for each company that documents findings and recommendations. Any standard operating procedures, shelf-life validation instructions, recipes, and / or guidance provided should be annexed.
• A final report to the project (2-5 pages) that summarizes the technical assistance provided and recommended next steps for further assistance based on observations from the site visits.

Requested Skills and Qualifications: The ideal candidate will present the following skills and qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience in meat processing and / or meat processing technology.
• Demonstrated experience completing and / or analyzing shelf-life trial data for meat products.
• Prior experience providing technical assistance to firms operating in an emerging economy.
• Past experience working in Georgia will be an advantage.

Travel: Travel will be required to complete the scope of work. The Consultant shall be available to travel for up to two weeks in Georgia during November or December 2024. Travel arrangements will be made by Land O’Lakes Venture37 in accordance with Land O’Lakes and USDA guidelines.

Evaluation Criteria: All received complete applications will be evaluated against the following criteria:

• Professional experience in relation to the Scope of Work and the Requested Skills and Qualifications (65%)
• Cost competitiveness (35%)

Application Instructions: Interested and qualified applicants should submit their CV, proposed daily rate, and number of days for completing the scope of work by September 9. The final number of days will be agreed upon by Land O’Lakes Venture37 and the selected applicant.

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