The National Provisioner’s Tech Journal Series grew out of reader requests for applicable and hands-on research reports detailing recommended processes and best strategies for implementing on-floor processing technologies. To that end, these Tech Journals serve as a definitive resource guide for operating highly efficient and profitable processing facilities. As unbiased reports, they focus solely on process improvements and cull from a variety of sources including processors, federal agencies, industry consultants, trade associations and academia.

	Prepared/Ready-to-Eat Foods 101 As prepared and ready-to-eat foods grow in popularity with consumers, processors remain focused on improving product quality and safety, as well as reducing costs.

	2009 Tech Journal Series: Whole Muscle Technology 101 Quality whole-muscle meat is the prerequisite for successful product-development initiatives. The first step begins with protein material harvested from healthy animals that have been inspected and tested to rule out the presence of chemical residue, antibiotics and other undesirable additives that may end up in finished product.

	2009 Tech Journal Series: Poultry Processing Technology 101 Progressive poultry processing practices call for a streamlined approach to the flow of information among machines, people and integrated technology. The industry is light-years ahead of its poultry plucking days of the 1900s, especially concerning processing equipment-design improvements.

	2008 Tech Journal Series: Bacon 101 Bacon has given birth to the development of sophisticated technology featuring such innovations as high-speed, high-volume slicing equipment, curing and injection systems, smokehouses, chilling and packaging improvements.

	2008 Tech Journal Series: Deli 101 Deli meat has surged in popularity to the degree that it accounts for a sizable share of retail sales, which translates into higher production opportunities for manufacturers of the ready-to-eat products.

	2008 Tech Journal Series: Ground Beef 101, pt. 1 Ground beef, which is marketed under several brands andoffered in a variety of grinds, represents the largest segment of U.S. fresh-meat processing, with the hamburger as a mainstay product — especially for the foodservice sector.

	2008 Tech Journal Series: Ground Beef 101, pt. 2 For years, the beef industry and the U.S. governmenthave battled E. coli O 157:H7 — the most insidious among pathogens causing foodborne illnesses, to say nothing of its major threat to the viability of ground beef.

2008 Tech Journal Series: Sausage 101 The sausage category consists of comminuted meats ranging from coarsely ground to fine emulsions such as hot dogs or bologna. Products may be cured, smoked or heat-processed. Categories generally include fresh; uncooked and smoked such as Italian pork sausage; cooked and smoked as in hot dogs; cooked such as liver sausage; dry, semi-dry or fermented such as summer sausage or pepperoni; and cooked meat specialties such as luncheon loaves.