Since environmental exposure is a major source of Listeria monocytogenes contamination on fully cooked ready-to-eat products, cook-in-the-bag processing has become very important. By not exposing the product to the environment between cooking and packaging, the chance of Lm contamination is eliminated, which reduces the need for some of the antimicrobial agents and the post-packaging pasteurization process to eliminate Lm on ready-to-eat meat products.
Spare parts are the lifeblood of operational reliability and plant capacity. No plant can operate at a high level of output without a reliable supply of functional spare parts. Spare parts form the bedrock on which operational reliability is built.
According to the recent National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) “2010 National Meat Case Study,” whole-muscle beef products are holding their own in the meat case, representing 40 percent of packages at supermarkets and club stores.
Prior to her Feb. 10, 2011, presentation at the National Turkey Federation’s annual convention, Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, Under Secretary for Food Safety for USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), provided updates to several agency initiatives in a one-on-one interview with Dave Lurie, publisher of The National Provisioner. What follows is their conversation:
Sausage may have the dollar menu at McDonald’s to thank for its resilience last year. Savvy breakfast eaters could find sausage biscuits, burritos and McMuffins at their local drive-throughs, and other fast-food and quick-serve restaurants (QSR) — including a surprising rebound from pizza restaurants — offered more low-priced options.