MeatingPod

As processors continue to expand efficiencies and improve worker safety, Dr. Brian Kiepper from the University of Georgia takes our MeatingPod listeners on a tour of early automation efforts, notes where technology stands today and outlines the potential for tech advances in the near future. Dr. Kiepper also explains that meat plant automation doesn’t eliminate jobs, but offers an opportunity to redeploy experienced employees to ot...

In this inaugural episode of the MeatingPod Editor’s Roundtable, Meatingplace Co-Editor-in-Chief Tom Johnston and Managing Editor Peter Ricci discuss the state of the poultry processing industry and where the protein may be headed in the near future. Both editors have covered protein processing businesses for years and offer their insights regarding poultry demand fluctuations. Tom and Peter also describe how the industry is covere...

The challenge of implementing and maintaining food safety standards at any food manufacturing plant requires strict record-keeping, solid communications and a commitment to working with inspectors on both the federal and state levels. In this episode, Brian Kellerman, chief quality and food safety officer at Kellerman Consulting, describes implementation of technically complex food safety projects and describes how food safety effo...

The way Jeff “Trip” Tripician sees it, he didn’t leave his job as CEO of a conventional meat company to become CEO of the Dutch cultivated meat company Meatable; rather, he went from CEO of one meat company to another. After decades working to institute progressive practices within the U.S. meat industry, Trip is pushing the cultivated meat industry to progress by, essentially, helping them understand that they are meat companies, ...

In this episode, Stephanie Major, a senior at Iowa State University, outlines a research project that aimed to better understand how bacon becomes discolored under varying types of retail lights. With Major as co-leader of the research team, the study involved treating cured bacon with natural antioxidants and then packaging the product in aerobic (overwrap) and anaerobic (vacuum packed) containers. Major and Dr. Terry Hauser, asso...

In this episode, Kromm will outline the specifics of the original USDA plan to monitor Salmonella contamination levels in processing plants as well as the goals for tracking various serotypes of Salmonella as well as other pathogens among poultry. She also notes that the proposed regulations – which were challenged by the poultry industry and other stakeholders – ultimately could have complicated the processing and supply chain nee...

Developing custom flavors for new and existing foodservice and restaurant customers for sous vide proteins involves collaboration and communication, according to Keith Goerl, Vice President, R&D and Commercialization at Ed Miniat LLC. Successfully meeting client needs means employing a variety of channels to stay ahead of emerging flavor trends and testing new concept inside the in-house kitchens, he adds. In this episode, Goer...

Confusion is a major barrier for alt-meat companies struggling to gain traction with shoppers — confusion about healthfulness, ingredients, labels. Add to that a disconnect between consumer expectation and reality on matters of taste and texture. In short, consumers don’t trust the information they’re getting. Trust in the food system is what the Center for Food Integrity is all about, and CFI has new data that segments consumers b...

As avian influenza continues to affect the poultry industry – as well as dairy cows and other mammals like cats and even seals – researchers are developing a hand-held device that can detect the virus that causes bird flu in the air in minutes with a success rate of 90%. Dr. Rajan Chakrabarty at Washington University in St. Louis, is leading a team of scientists that previously created an electrochemical capacitive biosensing (ECP)...

With current USDA rules on Salmonella in frozen and raw poultry products, the fight to combat microbial infection also is being waged on the hatchery level using research that ultimately could protect humans from some biological invasions. Dr. Margie Lee from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine is involved in groundbreaking research on how the chicken microbiome allows chicks to fight off Salmonella after they hatc...

According to Tim Vlcek, a food safety consultant and also the CEO of a direct-to-consumer meat business, explains how maintaining proper food safety protocols can directly impact a processor’s profitability because it makes managing operations more efficient. In this episode, he outlines the connection between maintaining consistent food safety standards that start with upper management and, in an ideal situation, work their way do...

North Carolina is home to a number of groundbreaking alt-meat development centers, from the soon-to-be-completed Believer Meats cultivated meat plant, to the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab, and most recently, the first of three global Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein at North Carolina State. Bill Aimutis has been in the proteins industry for decades, and now is co-director of the Bezos Center in North Carolina. In this epi...

Working with a research team at the University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture, Dr. Dongyi Wang will outline for our MeatingPod listeners new advances that can improve the detection rate of woody chicken breast on the processing line 95% of the time. Utilizing cutting-edge hyperspectral imaging as chicken breasts move down the line, the system can spot the meat quality defect that result in a crunchy texture or other te...

As the ongoing threat of highly pathogenic avian influence (HPAI) enters its fourth year, research continues to develop preventative and protective approaches with regard to the nation’s poultry industry. Sunil Mor is an assistant professor at South Dakota State University and is one of the scientists focusing on the identification of various HPAI strains, specifically, avian metaneurovirus that is affecting turkey flocks. In this ...

Food safety veteran Sharon Beals offers perspectives on what food manufacturers need to know about continuing the learning process when it comes to protecting workers and customers from foodborne illnesses. In the wake of last year’s listeria outbreak that sent nearly 60 people to the hospital and played a role in the deaths of at least nine people, Beals notes that deli meat processor Boar’s Head and others can glean new approache...

The alt-meat sector has plenty of conferences, but this May, the largest trade show dedicated to alt-meat will be held in Frankfurt, Germany, adding to the list of global conferences for alt-meat networking. In fact, an entire hall at the triannual IFFA show, which otherwise is dedicated to conventional meat production, will focus on alternative proteins. The Good Food Institute-Europe is partnering with IFFA on the World of Altern...

Automation has been part of the U.S. manufacturing industry since the 1930s and an increasingly prominent factor in food manufacturing in more recent decades. Our MeatingPod guest is Steve Mustard, who has more than 35 years of experience in automated systems. In this episode, he'll cover some of that history and provide insights on how meat processors today are successfully integrating automation into their operations. Mustar...

With the monitoring of foodborne pathogens attracting even more focused efforts, today’s MeatingPod guest offers insights on methodologies that a recent study of Campylobacter showed that the pathogen could still be detected in poultry sold on store shelves. Dr. Agneta Dziegiel is a researcher at the Quadrum Institute in Norwich, England, and was part of a research team that used a variety of sampling techniques to uncover how Camp...

With USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service focusing new protocols to detect Listeria monocytogenes in meat, food safety veteran Sharon Beals offers her perspectives on steps meat processors adopted in the wake of the deadly Boar's Head outbreak that was connected to the deaths of 10 consumers in 2024. She also outlines the goals of the Women's Meat Industry Network, which aims to boost education, development and ...