YALE, MI — Behind the doors of C. Roy’s, cattle, pigs and lambs move through a carefully regulated process that few people ever get to see.
That journey unfolds over weeks, combining generations of butchering knowledge with modern food safety standards under the watch of a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspector.
Founded in 1924, the family-owned business has processed meat in Yale for more than a century. Among its products is the Yale Bologna served each year during the Yale Bologna Festival.
The journey begins
Nancy Roy, who operates C. Roy Inc. with her husband, Dick Roy, and daughter, Jen Roy, recently led the Times Herald on a tour of the processing floor, where she explained that livestock typically arrives the evening before processing to give animals time to rest after transport.
“Most of them have never left the farm,” Roy said. “By coming in the night before, they’ve calmed down, they get used to their surroundings here, and that makes a better attitude for them and us.”
Roy said animals are humanely rendered unconscious before processing begins. From there, each carcass is processed one at a time under the supervision of a USDA inspector.
The inspector examines lymph nodes, glands and other indicators of disease before meat can continue through the process. Roy said inspectors are present during slaughter, sausage production and cut-and-wrap operations. Product is held until required testing is complete.
After initial processing, each carcass is weighed on a digital scale. Unlike the live weight used by farmers, the hanging weight becomes the standard used for most custom processing orders. Roy said customers ultimately receive a third number — the packaged “take-home” weight — after bones and trimming are removed.
Letting time do the work
After being weighed, carcasses enter what Roy calls the fresh cooler before moving into the age cooler.
Unlike some processors that immediately vacuum seal meat, C. Roy’s allows beef to hang in temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms while natural enzymes break down connective tissue.
“We let them naturally break down,” Roy said.
Air in the cooler is exchanged every four hours, and most beef hangs about two weeks before being cut. Carcasses with a thicker fat cover may hang a day or two longer, while leaner carcasses are cut sooner to prevent excessive weight loss and drying.
Roy said the butcher determines when each carcass is ready based on those factors while also accommodating customers who request longer aging.
As she walked through the cooler, Roy pointed out familiar cuts before they ever reach a grocery display case — T-bones, porterhouse steaks, rib steaks, pot roasts and soup bones.
She also highlighted products that have become less common on dinner tables, including leaf lard from pigs, organs still requested by many customers and oxtails.
Roy also pointed out several animals purchased at the recent St. Clair County 4-H and Youth Fair in Goodells, connecting the plant’s work with local youth agriculture programs.
Old traditions, new equipment
While food safety standards have changed dramatically over the decades, some traditions remain.
Near the coolers sits a calibrated analog beam scale that Roy said is still used alongside modern digital equipment.
“We still do things the old-fashioned way,” Roy said.
The company’s original smokehouse was moved from its downtown Yale butcher shop when the current facility opened in 1975 and is still used today to smoke Yale Bologna and bacon. Beside it, a newer automated smoker allows employees to program smoking cycles while the original smokehouse continues using traditional methods.
Once processing is complete, products are wrapped, rapidly chilled in a blast freezer and stored for customer pickup.
A century of family tradition
Although the business was founded in 1922, Roy said C. Roy Inc. recognizes 1924 as its official beginning, when it received its federal identification and tax numbers.
Cecil Roy joined the downtown Yale butcher shop in 1936 and purchased an ownership stake in 1944. The company became C. Roy & Sons in 1968 when Cecil’s sons joined the business as partners. Five years later, in 1973, the name changed to C. Roy Inc., which it retains today.
As federal inspection standards evolved, the downtown Yale butcher shop could no longer meet updated building requirements. To comply with those standards, construction on the current facility began in 1969, and the plant opened in 1975.
Nancy Roy said it became the first federally inspected meat processing plant in St. Clair County.
Today, Dick and Nancy Roy operate the business with their daughter, Jen Roy, continuing a family tradition into its fourth generation.
“We wanted to produce something that was good for the economy, good for the people, healthy food, healthy animals,” Roy said.
Whether it’s the Yale Bologna served each summer at the city’s signature festival or a market animal sold by a 4-H exhibitor in Goodells, Roy said every animal that enters the plant follows the same carefully regulated process before becoming food for area families.
C. Roy’s retail store and processing plant is located at 444 Roy Dr. in Yale and is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Contact reporter Andy Jeffrey at ajeffrey@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Exclusive: Inside the family business behind ‘Yale Bologna’
Reporting by Andy Jeffrey, Port Huron Times Herald / Port Huron Times Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andy Jeffrey, Port Huron Times Herald | USA TODAY Network
