The October issue of the National Provisioner is here! Our annual State of the Industry Report is a wide-ranging look at trends, challenges, and opportunities in the meat & poultry industry — from the individual protein sectors to packaging, food safety, sustainability, and more. Also included are features on trimming & deboning technology and sausage processing solutions.
I will never forget the week of January 1, 2021, hearing every person I encountered, whether it was family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, clients, or the clerk at the local grocery store, proclaim in cheerful form, “Thank Goodness 2020 is behind us!” Most would go on to proclaim further, many in an even brighter tone, “I can’t wait for 2021!” Neither could I.
During the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, the entire live-animal supply chain was disrupted as slaughter establishments dealt with internal virus outbreaks and resulting reductions in slaughter capacity.
Animal welfare has remained a key issue for the Animal Agriculture Alliance since its founding in 1987 because of frequent efforts by animal-rights organizations to spread myths and misinformation about this important topic.
The pandemic has proven to be an interesting time for the seafood industry. After a year of rapid category growth at retail and looking ahead as consumers slowly head back into restaurants where seafood is historically king, we believe sales will continue to climb as Alaska seafood can meet consumers’ needs and exceed their expectations.
When the pandemic shut down restaurants, the lamb industry was concerned about the many lamb racks on hand which traditionally went to the foodservice market.
During a year when consumers moved toward a more normal state of life, foodservice beef sales recalibrated to higher levels that are more typical of the industry, and online grocery beef purchases grew.
Every year at this time, I pore over the CDC reports on foodborne outbreaks, FDA and FSIS recalls, death certificates from the CDC database, and more, looking for trends to see where we have been over the last 12 months and try to get a glimmer of where we are headed.
When I wrote this column last year, I had certainly hoped the difficult situation brought on to all of us from the COVID-19 pandemic would be long behind us. As we all know, we’re not quite there yet.