Megan Pellegrini

Change is coming as clean-in-place and open-plant cleaning systems embrace sustainability measures and add more automation.

It has been said that bacon is meat candy. And this past year, restaurants have pushed the point by literally treating bacon as a sweet garnish for and in sundaes, milkshakes and coffee.

Today, most methods of mass cooking and chilling are pretty economical and sufficient for their purpose. However, processors and manufacturers continue to tweak thermal-processing procedures to eliminate remaining challenges.

Today’s new stuffers and grinders highlight their versatility and ability to work together to provide a continuous system that integrates all processing actions for improved efficiencies.

Casings and nettings are available today in more sizes, colors and shapes than ever before, which is a good thing for consumers and processors alike.

Metal detection and X-ray inspection systems continue evolving to keep meat and poultry products free of debris, but are still prone to false alarms and production delays.

Although the separation process hasn’t changed much in decades, its notoriety with consumers certainly has.

New technology and safety standards are improving workplace safety for slicing operators.

If a meat processor were to spend $16 million a year on vaccines for its cattle to prevent bacterial contamination, but a recall still takes place due to contamination further down the line, is the earlier pre-harvest investment worth it?

Anticipated regulations and innovations are changing injection and marinade formulas for meat and poultry processors.