Before the COVID-19 outbreak, consumers were purchasing a variety of pre-portioned or portion-controlled meat and poultry products. A shift in lifestyle changes because of the pandemic caused the total poultry and meat portion size category (0- to 6-ounce sizes) to drop 3.8 percent to approximately $654.2 million for the latest 52 weeks ending Feb. 21 in total U.S. multi-outlets, according to IRI Inc., Chicago.

Hofmann Sausage Company recently started selling summer sausage and three new flavors of jerky. In-spite of their renowned hot dog business suffering from less food service sales in the COVID-19 pandemic, the chief marketing officer for the 142-year-old company, Rebecca Baker, says their diverse product lineup and a large network of customers along the east coast keep business going strong. Austin Keating, Multimedia Specialist for Provisioneronline.com, chats with Baker to find out more.

Whole Foods Market recently announced it will phase out live-shackle slaughter from its chicken suppliers at all U.S. locations by 2026, becoming the first major retailer to follow the Better Chicken Commitment.