Check out the January 2020 issue of The National Provisioner, featuring our cover story on Omaha Steaks, the 2020 Poultry Report, formulation of meat snacks, and much more.
Protein options, refrigerated snacks, a new generation of foodies and more are on the menu for 2020, as the Oklahoma State University Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center selects the hottest food trends for the upcoming year.
From renewable natural gas infrastructure to improving zero-waste-to-landfill standard, find out how Smithfield Foods is in position to meet its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2025.
Religion and food go together like Easter and ham or Thanksgiving and turkey, but vegan activist groups are spinning scripture to persuade churchgoers to leave meat off their plate not just at every holiday, but at every meal.
The notice proposes updated Salmonella performance standards for raw ground beef and new performance standards for beef manufacturing trimmings for establishments that produce more than 50,000 pounds of these products per day.
The definition of responsible sourcing has expanded beyond food safety to include issues like worker safety, animal welfare and the environment, but the definition of "supply chain" is changing too
In addition to evolving expectations, the segment most interested in responsible sourcing is very vocal. According to CFI research, one in four Americans is actively engaged in online conversations about the topic.
The NBQA is an in-depth look into all things affecting beef quality and consumer acceptance. As a meat scientist, one characteristic I look forward to is the report of the marbling scores observed during the study.
To protect consumers, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) strongly encourages meat processors to utilize label declarations for products containing any of the eight major food allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans).
Omaha Steaks pioneered the direct-to-consumer food channel, and it continues to drive process, product and distribution innovation across all channels it serves today.
When one asks Bruce Simon and Todd Simon, fifth-generation owner/operators of Omaha Steaks, how growth has come for the 102-year-old, Omaha, Neb.-based, direct-to-consumer marketer of steaks and gourmet foods, the answer appears contradictory at first.
Operators of supermarket delis, bakeries, and prepared-food areas recently have found a recipe for success: Two out of every three surveyed for Datassential's Supermarket Prepared Keynote Report said their foodservice sales increased in the past year.
Restaurant kids' menus often seem like an afterthought across restaurant segments—with the same hamburgers, chicken strips, and French fries commonly offered. These fried options are likely why a lack of healthy kids' menu items is a top concern among parents.
In 2018, there were 109 humane handling enforcement actions posted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) Web site.
The average hot carcass weight of U.S. pork carcasses has increased from 82 kg to 96 kg since 1995, representing an increase of approximately 17 percent. If this increase remains steady, pork carcasses are projected to weigh on average 105 kg by 2030 and more than 118 kg by 2050.
Although Dr. Temple Grandin wrote the book on best animal welfare practices, much can still be learned to make slaughter and stunning practices more humane.
Capturing a lead and cultivating it into a sale isn’t a quick process. The sales cycle in any business-to-business industry is a much longer endeavor because it takes time to properly market complex products such as packaging machinery to a highly informed buying audience.
Testing an X-ray system is typically based on selecting small bones and cutting small pieces of these bones. These pieces are subsequently placed into a chicken fillet or a deboned leg. The product is subsequently scanned by the X-ray system, and its ability to detect the bone in question is assessed.
Several years ago, leaders in the meat-processing industry joined a food safety consortium exploring the possibilities of electrostatics as applied in antimicrobial intervention.
The first duty of any food or drink manufacturer is to supply consumers with safe products. While it is essential to maintain good equipment hygiene through the use of effective protocols, such as clean-in-place (CIP) systems, it is also economically important that perfectly usable product is not discarded as part of routine cleaning operations.
I recently spoke with a packaging executive whose fingers are in the tray sealing and the thermoforming markets both abroad and in the U.S. I came away from our conversation with a clear appreciation that, with a few exceptions, thermoformed trays have a place in protein packaging; it’s just not first place.
With increasing concerns about both food safety and the environment, there are pros and cons to using plastic packaging for fresh foods. Add to that consumer demand for convenience, and the question becomes even more complicated.
For a second year in a row, beef recalls are up and on pace to eclipse last year’s figure. By November 2019, 27 recalls were ordered (compared with 31 overall in 2018, totaling 13 million pounds of beef), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Three-dimensional (3-D) printing — or more correctly, Additive Manufacturing (AM) — has the potential to change everything with respect to spare parts inventory. As the technology develops, people will be able to manufacture parts at almost any location, at any time they choose.
Half the benefit of pre-marinated meat is consumers know what they are going to get: embedded taste and convenience. Processors are utilizing new technologies with injections and marinades, so everything tastes the same but with less sodium and sugar, and fewer food-safety concerns.
With more consumers increasing snacking activity, merchandisers are in position to boost meat and poultry revenues with new options and by spotlighting the proteins' attractive attributes.
Today, the Thailand-based food conglomerate produces more than 2,500 products, including duck, chicken, pork, shrimp, fish, eggs, ready meals and more.
They say that where there’s smoke there’s fire. So, casual observers might suspect that the biggest new product news in foodservice meat, poultry and seafood—is that there’s actually no meat whatsoever.
Industry still awaits turkey's market turnaround and big-time export opportunities, while chicken processors need to re-energize product innovation to continue to catch consumers' eyes.
From a holistic perspective, total poultry across the store had moderate dollar growth but volume declines for all U.S. outlets combined for the 52 weeks ending Nov. 2, says Meagan Nelson, associate director at Nielsen, in Chicago.