Editors Viewpoint

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A part of every trip I take for Independent Processor is the gamble that I can actually find the meat company in question, armed with my notoriously lousy sense of direction and a GPS that occasionally thinks I’ve driven off the road when I’m on an interstate.

In recent years, livestock producers, family farms and Attorneys General offices in the dominant agricultural states have been alarmed with the aggressive pursuit of the U.S. meat packers by foreign investors.

As a meat scientist, I try to be precise in referring to beef cuts. But at the same time, I must be aware of the alternative names for those cuts which may have historical, regional or marketing significance.

Any time a government agency seeks to advance regulation that can affect a property owner’s rights, controversy is inevitable.

Sustainability is top of mind for the meat industry, both for improving efficiency and managing resources. Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability can also be good for the bottom line.

In 1998 the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods defined a CCP as “a step at which control can be applied and is essential to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level.”

Animal welfare auditing has become as commonplace in slaughter establishments as HACCP monitoring practices.

My trip to visit this year’s Independent Processor of the Year, Dole & Bailey, also left me with an afternoon to walk part of the Freedom Trail.

The fundamentals of the commodity market have changed dramatically in one year.

It all starts with a workplace injury. ... And once that happens, a chain of events takes place, most of them bad.