MEAT+POULTRY Podcast

Over the last few years, Chomps has grown into a steady player in the meat snack space.

One of the critical components of the brand’s success is the attention to detail in operations and finding the right partners to produce a quality product.

For this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, we talk with Rashid Ali, co-chief executive officer and Zach Meyer, senior director of operations.

During this discussion, Ali describes what it’s been like to watch Chomps grow and succeed with his co-founder Pete Maldonado.

Meyer and Ali examine how the company determines the necessary elements to build new meat snacks and maintain the original ones.

Rashid discusses how this e-commerce first company also picked the proper retail locations to grow its consumer base and create a new sales channel for Chomps.

Cattaneo Bros., in San Luis Obispo, Calif., continues to push forward as a small business as it celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2022.

The meat processor is a lean operation specializing in jerky, beef sticks, and handmade European-style sausages.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRYpodcast, Katelyn Kaney, chief executive officer of Cattaneo, shared some of her thoughts on the meat snack business and how the family-owned company has established itself as a brand.

Kaney reflects on taking over the operation at a young age and how she’s continued to grow it during the last 15 years.

Kaney also describes the role athletic activities played in her life and how that helped connect to a new market of customers.

Along with the production facility, Cattaneo Bros. also operates a retail location called The Mercantile, near the plant.

She also discusses the company’s strategy for expanding  retail stores, mainly around the West Coast.

The podcast finishes with Katelyn explaining the online strategy for Cattaneo and how it expects to grow in the future.

Although poultry is the dominant protein industry Arkansas, beef is a vital part of the state’s agricultural economy.

That’s why professors and researchers at the University of Arkansas are promoting initiatives that can impact farmers and producers of beef.

For this episode of the MEAT+POULTRYpodcast, Kelly Vierck, assistant professor of animal science, and Derico Setyabrata, assistant professor of meat science and muscle biology, discussed what their efforts to develop the beef industry in Fayetteville.

Vierck described some basics about the University of Arkansas’ relationship with the Arkansas Beef Council and how it hopes to help add more small beef processors in the future.

After going over the college’s approach to research, Setyabrata discussed his project, where he will use meat microbiomes to predict beef quality and shelf life.

Vierck’s also discussed her latest project, experimenting with factors that affect palatability improvements and eating experiences with beef.

Lance Zimmerman, the senior beef analyst at Rabo AgriFinance, wants to share his experience studying the cattle industry with the entire beef supply chain.

During the conversation for the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Zimmerman describes why the move to Rabo AgriFinance was the right one for his career. Previously, Zimmerman worked for nearly 12 years at CattleFax as a market analyst.

Zimmerman starts off discussing his background of being a Kansas rancher and how it helps him during his analysis daily.

Next, he dives into some topics that are affecting the cattle industry including supply chain issues, identifying consumer demands and the drought conditions in the Midwest.

Zimmerman also talks about what feed costs could look like for the rest of 2022 and how well the United States is trading with other countries in cattle.

Finally, Zimmerman returns to why he enjoys this job and what he hopes to bring to the table in the future at Rabobank.

As summer heats up, commercial meat buyers are figuring out their inventory while filling orders for customers.

With ongoing supply chain difficulties, labor shortages and various other factors along with inflation, people like Kevin Lindgren, the director of merchandising at the Bronx, NY-based Baldor Specialty Foods, are navigating the world of meat on a day-to-day basis.

For this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Lindgren detailed how meat distributors and buyers are handling market forces when procuring products for customers.

Lindgren described what Baldor has done to deal with the volatility in the market and how it’s become part of the job since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

He also explained some of the differences in his job working in the summer compared to the frantic pace of the holiday season.

Finally, Lindgren discussed his background with Baldor and what he enjoys about working in this sector of the food world.

After his tenure at Niman Ranch, Jeff Tripician is on to his next challenge in the meat business.

Tripician recently assumed the role of chief executive officer of Teton Waters Ranch based in Denver, Colo.

During this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Tripician explained what motivates him about the opportunity at Teton and how it compares to other steps in his meat industry career. 

Tripician assessed how Teton Waters Ranch’s offerings compare to other meat products in the category and how the company plans to grow its brand in 2022.

He also discussed the history and trend of natural grass-fed-and-finished meats and how it’s become more prominent in the meat industry. 

Finally, Tripician described some of the goals he hoped to achieve early on in his tenure with Teton Waters Ranch. 

Paul Bredwell, executive vice president of regulatory programs for USPOULTRY focuses on the needs of poultry industry members and providing guidance on what could be the next regulations from state or federal officials.

The association is currently looking at the remand of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and how it affects a variety of poultry operations around the country.

The EPCRA requires reporting of releases of hazardous substances that meet or exceed reportable quantities within a 24-hour period. The purpose of the notification is for federal, state, tribal, and local officials to evaluate the need for an emergency response to mitigate the effects of a release to the community.

For this podcast, Paul examines the EPCRA and how it falls into similar categories of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Bredwell describes how companies, state agencies and federal regulators work when it comes to these emergency planning issues.

USPOULTRY is also monitoring the issue of responding to emergencies and non-emergencies at poultry operations.

Lastly, Bredwell discusses his work with USPOULTRY over the last 15 years and how he researches various rules and regulations.

Since joining the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), new outreach specialist Abbey Davidson has hit the ground running with her enthusiasm and experience in the meat industry.

During this episode the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Davidson talked about getting acclimated during her first few months at AAMP and how she’s worked to build relationships with members.

Davidson explained how AAMP is continuing to grow its outreach efforts with two outreach specialists now working with members across the country, providing information and resources to help them succeed and grow their businesses. Davidson also discussed how AAMP continues to provide information for longstanding members while recruiting new members.

During her time in this new role, Davidson described what she’s learned on the job and how she will continue to pick up information on the industry. 

Davidson also highlighted what is coming up at AAMP’s annual convention, July 14-16 in Des Moines, Iowa.

KANSAS CITY, MO. – In August 2021, Plano, Texas-based Stryve Foods launched a line of premium supplements called Stryve Nutrition. Supplements may seem like a departure for a company known for its better-for-you portfolio of air-dried meat snacks, but for Stryve, the meat snacks are a natural progression to provide health-conscious consumers with high-quality supplements and snacks from a trusted brand.

The new products include collagen protein powder, bone broth protein, pre-workout mixes and gummies – functional foods loaded with protein but without the stuff consumers say they don’t want such as GMOs, sugar, gluten, soy and dairy.

Health and wellness always have been top-of-mind for consumers, but that focus only intensified during the last two years as the coronavirus pandemic held the world in its grip. But even as restrictions and mandates begin to loosen, consumer demand for healthy, better-for-you foods is here to stay and expected to grow alongside consumers’ desire for personalization and convenience.

Stryve’s “better” brand evolution focuses on healthy eating and snacking, to support consumers’ growing focus on maintaining immune health and preventive measures against lifestyle and age-related ailments.

The company is positioning the new collagen and bone broths as a complement to the portfolio of meat snacks that got Stryve noticed in 2017, when former National Football League player Gabe Carimi, Dymatize founder Ted Casey and Pro-Supps founder Joe Oblas launched the company. At the time, the brand started with snack bites, meat sticks and a little-known meat snack called biltong – an air-dried, cured and sliced beef protein snack with origins in South Africa. Biltong was ideal for American consumers wanting to increase their intake of lean protein with little to no carbohydrates, sugar, nitrates or other additives.

Stryve entered the snacking scene at a time when the trend of consumers substituting snacks for main meals began to catch fire. Driven by a desire for convenience without sacrificing taste or nutritional value, consumers turned to meat snacks of all types and varying proteins.

Stryve embarked on a growth streak that netted the company millions of dollars in funding which enabled its expansion through acquisitions. By 2021, Stryve had captured 85% market share of the air-dried meat business in the United States and established distribution agreements that added more than 4,000 additional retail locations to carry the company’s Stryve, Kalahari and Vacadillos meat snack brands.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Joe Oblas, co-chief executive officer and one of the original founders of Stryve, traces the company’s journey from primarily meat snack manufacturing to a purveyor of premium nutrition supplements, the company’s expectations for success and how Stryve will become the go-to brand for better nutrition and taste.

Ambassador Meats found a new place to showcase its Minnesota roots.

The sausage and hot dog brand, which falls under the Land O’ Frost Inc. umbrella, recently became one of the main sponsors of the US Pond Hockey Championships held in late January in Minneapolis, Minn.

For this MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Clint Yonkers, associate brand manager, discusses why the company chose this event to promote Ambassador.

Yonkers explained Ambassador Meats’ product line as well as the basic information on distribution in the Upper Midwest.

The Lansing, III. facility where Ambassador products are processed is a 150,000-square-foot plant that employs 285 people. The facility produces about 140,000 lbs per month.

Yonkers also chronicled his career, from working in R&D and product formulation and most recently moving to brand management.

Cultured or cell-based meat continues to make progress toward entering the marketplace. With the rise of this meat alternative, the infrastructure that’s needed to bring the product to more people in the United States and around the world is also developing.

That’s where Matrix Meats comes in. The Columbus, Ohio-based company, operated by co-founder and chief executive officer Eric Jenkusky, develops nanofiber scaffolding for growing cell-cultured meat items.

Jenkusky describes his background in the military and in the defense contracting field and how Matrix Meats became part of his portfolio.

He also discusses the application for his product and what he expects to see in the growing meat alternative space.

Jenkusky then shares some of his thoughts on regulations on cultured meats and where the product will be in the next few years.

As 2022 begins, logistics and supply chain challenges remain in place throughout the United States and the world.

Whether it’s the scenes at ports or the lack of truck drivers out on the highways, companies are looking for solutions to this ongoing issue.

One place that continues to provide flexibility and insights for the meat industry is Northpoint Logistics, a Kansas City area company that focus on the supply chain.

For this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Clint Rusch, president of Northpoint Logistics, and Kaitlin Rusbarsky, the managing director of international operations discuss their roles in logistics.

During the discussion, Rusch and Rusbarsky explain the logistics and transports it provides to the meat industry. They also present how their company interacts with the meat supply chain worldwide.

Next, they discuss complex problems faced in logistics management and how they try to solve them daily.

Later in the conversation, Rusch and Rusbarsky talk about their career paths that led them to find a place in the logistics world.

Supply chain troubles are going to continue throughout the meat industry and the world heading into 2022. This reality has stakeholders throughout the agriculture supply chain grappling with contingency plans.

So how will processors and producers deal with this?

On this week’s episode of the MEAT+POULTRYpodcast, Cortney Cowley, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, explains why the shortages and chokepoints are happening in not only the meat industry but across the economy.

Cowley discusses existing challenges for agriculture industry import and export markets. She also shares stories from her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and what she’s heard from bankers that could impact the meat industry.

The price tag of Thanksgiving will be up in 2021.

Recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics said that food prices at home are up 5.4% over the past 12 months.

With inflation still a concern for Americans, putting that turkey on the table next week will not look the same as it has in recent years.

Producers and processors were already dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the year, but fighting through this inflation is another challenge around the November holiday.

On this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Beth Breeding, vice president of communications and marketing for the National Turkey Federation, discusses turkey production trends.

Breeding describes how turkey farmers and producers tried to navigate the amount of turkey consumers were consuming during this COVID year and whether this is just a blip or the new normal.

She also explains what the turkey industry faced during COVID-19 and how it’s adapted over 2020 and 2021.

Chef Erik Niel says Main Street Meats began as a kernel of an idea that already existed. He and his wife Amanda Niel own and operate the butcher shop in addition to Easy Bistro & Bar, both in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The award-winning chef’s culinary career spans 25 years. Although he attended the University of Texas at Austin to study psychology with a minor in business, food has always been his passion. He attended Johnson & Wales Culinary School in Vail, Colo. In 2005, after working in professional kitchens he and Amanda – both in their 20s – opened Easy Bistro & Bar in downtown Chattanooga.

In 2014, the Niels took over Main Street Meats. Erik says, tongue firmly in cheek, that at age 35 he needed a new challenge that would push him out of his comfort zone. But he also believed in the business.

“This was the one great chance for Chattanooga to have a local butcher,” he said. But how could he and his team of artisan butchers use old-school techniques to successfully run a combination contemporary butcher shop and restaurant to become Chattanooga’s neighborhood butcher shop?

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Chef Erik Niel explains how he and the Main Street Meats team did just that, and why whole-animal butchery is key to the shop’s current success and its future as a fixture in more neighborhoods across the southeast.

The COVID pandemic has been a challenging time for the meat and poultry industry, but for Sacramento, Calif.-based Superior Farms it was a time of unexpected sales increases.

When the pandemic hit 18 months ago, and foodservice sales immediately plummeted, Superior Farms feared what it could mean to its bottom line, as almost half of the company’s sales came from foodservice customers. However, the lamb market experienced a dramatic uptick in retail sales and Superior Farms gained a number of new lamb consumers.

“We saw incredibly strong retail demand that went throughout the pandemic,” said Anders Hemphill, vice president of marketing and brand strategy for Superior Farms. “A lot of consumers who were buying lamb weren’t the typical lamb shoppers.”

On this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Hemphill explains how Superior Farms was able to persevere through the COVID pandemic following necessary adjustments in processing practices and supply chain distribution.

Hemphill shares his insights on the challenges the lamb and the entire livestock market are facing now and how things will fare for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022.

Hemphill also explains Superior Farms’ investments in solar and wind power, designed to make more of its facilities sustainable for the future.

Since joining the company in 2014, Hemphill’s career has been all about lamb. He shares how he transitioned his marketing career to working with Superior Farms, and what he’s learned along the way.

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Mindy Brashears, PhD, has spent the majority of her career in academia – first as a faculty member and extension specialist at the University of Nebraska and later at Texas Tech University as an assistant, associate and later full professor of food science. She has devoted her career to studying food science and training the next generation of food scientists along the way.

But during the last presidential administration, Brashears took off her academic hat to answer an unexpected call from Washington. She was invited to take on the role of undersecretary of food safety for the US Department of Agriculture. 

“My primary job was to go in, as a scientist, and make sure that decisions being made were science-based and data-driven. That was my charge; that was my objective from day one,” she said.

During this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Brashears shares stories from her days in Washington – from finalizing swine modernization and egg modernization to helping the nation’s meat packing industry navigate the COVID pandemic as it unfolded in early 2020.

After the Biden administration took over, Brashears returned to the world of education, now as a professor at Texas Tech and vice president of research at the university. In addition to teaching and mentoring tomorrow’s scientific leaders, she is working to use what she learned in Washington to bridge the gap between government, industry and academia.

After planning for both in-person and virtual conventions last year, the Southwest Meat Association (SMA) was able to hold its 2021 convention in person in late July in Round Rock, Texas.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Joe Harris, president and chief executive officer of SMA, explains the differences in this year’s in-person event and previous conventions and how this year’s show exceeded expectations.

Next, he shared the background of the convention and suppliers showcase and how it’s evolved over the years.

Harris explained some of the major concerns his members have going into the future, including COVID-19, supply chain logistics, workplace issues and fluctuating commodity prices.

Finally, Harris described what the Southwest Meat Association is planning for the rest of 2021 including plans to visit members and organize its February conference.

It’s been three weeks since the Dominican Republic reported an outbreak of African swine fever, the first such report in the Western Hemisphere in 40 years. The government’s Official Commission for the Eradication of African Swine Fever reported Aug. 25 that there are 15 affected provinces and four are under suspicion of having infected swine.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) continues to assist the Dominican Republic with testing support. And US Customs and Border Protection has stepped up inspections and surveillance of people and cargo moving between the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Rosemary Sifford, Deputy Administrator for veterinary services at APHIS, and John Sagle, deputy executive director at CBP, shared details of these activities during a webinar hosted by the National Pork Board.

Raider Red Meats in Lubbock, Texas, gives the students of Texas Tech University one of the most hands-on college experiences for those trying to break into the meat business.

The on-campus retail location takes students through every aspect of processing and selling retail to customers on campus and around their community.

In this podcast episode, MEAT+POULTRY talked with Tate Corliss, director of Raider Red Meats, and Kiersten Atkinson, sales manager for the business.

The two described what it’s been like running an essential business on a college campus and how the students embraced the struggles of the last 18 months.

They shared some of the popular meat products produced for the store and how some of them have been invented by Texas Tech alumni over the years. And, later described the facility that the Department of Animal & Food Sciences at Texas Tech uses to teach their students meat processing on the job.

Corliss and Atkinson also explained how Raider Red Meats has built relationships with meat companies in Texas to help students get high-quality jobs in the meat industry right out of college.

On this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Chris Carter, co-founder and chief executive officer of Porter Road Butcher Shop in Nashville, Tenn. shares the company’s mission and talks about its new facility in Princeton, Ky.

The story of how the new facility came about is an interesting one. What began as the solution to an immediate problem evolved into an opportunity for Porter Road to expand its processing capabilities and move closer to its ultimate goal. 

Listen as Carter details Porter Road’s next steps on its journey into the future.

In June, the US Supreme Court denied, without comment, the North American Meat Institute’s petition to review its appeal challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 12, California’s animal confinement law that will go into force in 2022. The Institute vowed to keep up the fight against the law and began consulting its members as to next steps the industry should take.

The high court has declined to settle this issue, so what lies ahead for producers? Is there still time for producers to comply?

MEAT+POULTRY caught up with Christine McCracken, senior analyst-Animal Protein at Rabobank, and Jeff Tripician, president of Perdue Meat Co., which owns Coleman Natural pork brand, to get some insights into the opportunities and challenges of complying with California’s Prop 12.

It’s not often that a food manufacturing company announces plans to build a $500 million facility, but that’s what Fremont, Nebraska-based Wholestone Farms did in June.

The producer-owned pork processor is expanding operations into Sioux Falls, South Dakota on land located near Interstate 229 and within an industrial park. The state-of-the-art pork harvest and processing facility will initially employ more than 1,100 people.

Wholestone Farms was established in 2018 to create and capture value in the pork supply chain for its 200 members who are independent family farmers raising livestock and crops in the upper Midwest. The producer-owners collectively farm nearly 400,000 acres of cropland and raise 12 million pigs annually.

Wholestone operates a pork processing facility in Fremont, Nebraska. Scott Webb, chief executive officer of Wholestone, said that facility currently is a one shift operation processing three million hogs a year. The plan is to double-shift the planned Fremont facility and raise production to about six million head – but that leaves a gap the company is looking to fill with processing capacity in Sioux Falls.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY process, Webb shared more details about the proposed facility and how it symbolizes the producer-owners’ commitment to bringing the consumer closer to the farmer.

The JBS cyberattack that occurred in late May and was resolved in early June garnered national attention well outside the agriculture news channels.

Following the SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, and now the recent JBS cyberattack, cybersecurity has been headlining the news around the country the last few weeks.

With cybersecurity concerns top of mind, the MEAT+POULTRY podcast invited John Hoffman, senior research fellow at the Food Protection and Defense Institute at the University of Minnesota, to discuss the topic. 

While the pet food industry and meat and poultry processing industry are not mirror images of each other operationally, there are enough similarities to consider them kissing cousins at the very least. With companies such as Cargill, Pilgrim’s Pride, Simmons Foods and Tyson Foods all dedicating considerable resources and raw materials to the pet food and pet treat segment, the overlap in the two industry segments is the premise for this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast. 

About three years ago, after recognizing the meteoric growth in the US pet products industry, which is estimated at $100 billion with pet food and treats making up more than 40% of those revenues, Sosland Publishing, parent company of MEAT+POULTRY, launched Pet Food Processing in 2018 with Jennifer Semple as its editor. The new publication filled an information void in the industry by focusing its coverage on food safety issues, processing and ingredient technologies and consumer trends in pet food and pet treat production. 

In this week’s podcast, Semple discussed the genesis of the magazine, its growth in the past four years and the similarities between pet food processing and traditional meat and poultry processing, not only in their operations but in how their products reflect the evolving markets they serve. She also discussed trends in the industry, how COVID-19 impacted the industry and her reflections after touring many plants where pet food and treats are manufactured. 

Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, Pasadena, Calif.-based Miso Robotics develops technologies to help foodservice operators cook food consistently, improve working conditions in restaurant and commercial kitchens, reduce costs and drive profitability. Its signature product is Flippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant that caught the eye of White Castle Inc., an early adopter of the technology.

Miso Robotics has seen a significant uptick in inquiries about the company’s robotics and software, and in this episode of the MEAT+POULTRYPodcast, we spoke to Buck Jordan, co-founder, president and chairman of Miso Robotics to speak about the potential of automation to improve working conditions in commercial kitchens, food safety and the company’s most-recent innovations — ROAR, Robot-on-a-Rail technology, and CookRight, its standalone software as a service (SaaS) offering.

Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, Pasadena, Calif.-based Miso Robotics develops technologies to help foodservice operators cook food consistently, improve working conditions in restaurant and commercial kitchens, reduce costs and drive profitability. Its signature product is Flippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant that caught the eye of White Castle Inc., an early adopter of the technology.

Miso Robotics has seen a significant uptick in inquiries about the company’s robotics and software, and in this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, we spoke to Buck Jordan, co-founder, president and chairman of Miso Robotics to speak about the potential of automation to improve working conditions in commercial kitchens, food safety and the company’s most-recent innovations — ROAR, Robot-on-a-Rail technology, and CookRight, its standalone software as a service (SaaS) offering.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is becoming a common phrase heard around the country – socially, professionally and politically. While the push to bring equity and diversity to the workplace isn’t a new concept, events over the past year have brought many social issues to the foreground and companies and corporations are taking inventory to assess where they are when it comes to diversity and equity and where they need to be.

During the mid-April virtual Meat Industry Summit, hosted by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the topic of diversity and inclusion in the manufacturing and processing industries was discussed. AJ Jorgenson, vice president of strategic program engagement at the Manufacturing Institute, presented ideas on how to “create diverse and inclusive workplaces” and the benefits that employees and employers can gain from creating such an environment.

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Jorgenson explains what diversity, equity and inclusion mean, what steps companies can take to start changing their workforces, and why making changes is important for large and small companies.

Jorgenson explained, “You want different gender representation and different perspectives. You want racial inclusion. The more diversity you have, the more innovative you can be. You’re not all thinking the same, you’re not all acting the same. You don’t all have the same experiences. Which is not only a benefit to the workforce but also a benefit, oftentimes, to your bottom line.”

Beef has reprised its role as the bad guy in the ongoing battle against climate change, apparently. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, total emissions from global livestock per year represent 14.5% of all “anthropogenic GHG emissions,”. The FAO also said cattle is the animal species responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions representing about 65% of the livestock sector’s emissions.”

Armed with these statistics, and a mission to make cooking more environmentally friendly, leading voices in the culinary space are speaking out against meat consumption. Most recently, editors at Epicurious, a popular website for recipes and culinary inspiration, announced plans to cease publishing recipes including beef as an ingredient. Existing recipes will remain, but no new beef recipes going forward. In fact, Epicurious had been phasing out beef recipes for over a year.

But meat, and beef especially, gained in popularity among consumers during the pandemic. 

So, faced with burgeoning consumer demand on one hand, and popular culture pushing a mostly meatless message on the other, what say the people whose livelihood is raising cattle? Some beef producers say the current conversation excludes ranchers that believe cattle can be part of the solution to climate change though improved land stewardship. We spoke with Nadine Rich, marketing director at Teton Waters Ranch, to learn more about how cattle ranchers are working with nature, not against it, through humane animal husbandry and regenerative agriculture practices.

Deciphering the evolving supply chain continues to be a balancing act for meat and poultry processors as the pandemic’s threat shows signs of ebbing and consumers begin transitioning to pre-COVID-19 purchasing and eating habits. 

According to a market specialist at Bronx, NY-based Baldor Specialty Foods, transparency and effective communication with customers is key during this period. 

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Baldor’s meat and poultry expert, Sophie Mellet-Grinnell, talked about how the company is meeting the changing needs of customers as foodservice traffic has shown signs of improvement going into summer and how that affects product flow. 

MEAT+POULTRY Editor Joel Crews talks with Certified Piedmontese’s Billy Swain on the growing demand for premium beef without the marbling.

Meat industry stakeholders are all too aware of this past year’s market volatility due to COVID-19, but there were and continue to be other factors at play too.

For this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Dustin Aherin, animal protein analyst of Rabobank AgriFinance, discussed the meat and poultry markets – past, present and future.

First, Aherin touched on how consumers are spending their latest stimulus money and how it could affect the meat market at foodservice and retail.

Aherin also talked about how export markets and the supply chain are faring as the threat of the pandemic began to wane. He discussed China’s emergence as a major exporter and how the United States is balancing beef and pork exports to certain countries around the world.

Finally, Aherin discussed what goes into his job as an animal protein analyst.

E-commerce sales continue to grow as more people are interested in ordering food online. For some retail shoppers loading up a cart at the grocery store with everything needed is no longer the norm. In the last year, more consumers have become comfortable with perishable items being delivered straight to their door. During this week’s  MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, the company’s owner Matt Crowley explains how Chicago Steak has grown since 2007 and what it had to do to keep up with online orders during the first stretch of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crowley also discusses how Chicago Steak sources its USDA Prime products to ship for customers. Next, he dives into the ways the company reaches current and potential customers and how he hopes to grow the business in the future.

One way is Chicago Steaks’ commitment to customer education with its Steak University section of its website. Its online resources give all the information and videos customers need to prepare and cook the steaks and other cuts of meat the company offers.

During the Annual Meat Conference, tackling sustainability was one of the topics we heard a lot about in many sessions

Each company takes different tactics to accomplish sustainable goals but many take their cues from corporations like Cargill.

For this episode of the podcast, we wanted to talk with Heather Tansey, Cargill’s sustainability director for animal protein on what the company is doing to work on its long-term plan of sustainability.

Tansey discussed how Cargill comes up with its goals and targets for its sector of the industry. She then dives into the focus of sustainability in the industry and what Cargill is doing to set its standard for the future.

Cargill also continues to work on the BeefUp Sustainability initiative and its efforts to combat food waste.

Next, Tansey laid out some of the projects the company is working on including the grassland restoration throughout the west part of the United States and Canada.

Another item touched on is Cargill’s ability to watch sustainability throughout its supply chain since it’s a large corporation.

Jason McAlister subscribes to the adage: “There is no end to education.” McAlister, who has worked around livestock every day for most of his career and has worked in animal welfare management roles since 1993, with companies such as IBP/Tyson and Triumph Foods, spends most of his time “teaching the craft to others.” He claims to never stop learning and is humble enough to never call himself an “expert.” A passion for teaching and learning about animal welfare is what led McAlister to co-found CloverLeaf Animal Welfare Systems, based in St. Joseph, Mo.

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY Podcast McAlister talks about the start-up and the challenges it faced almost immediately. He said what started as a small consultancy focused on working with smaller livestock operations in 2017, ramped up in January 2020. With a business plan to lead a diverse team of educators and leaders in the arena of animal welfare and expand its training to operations outside the United States, with on-site training at livestock processing facilities in South America and Central America, McAlister was confident the company would be a success. However, 2020 soon became a challenge for all businesses as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe.

Like every other company, CloverLeaf pivoted to survive the pandemic. McAlister initially developed a series of virtual training sessions along with animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, PhD, professor of animal science at Colorado State University. McAlister’s story of how his program has evolved and grown during the most unlikely circumstances this past year is informative and inspiring.

McAlister’s passion for teaching and learning and his ability to persevere is a classic case of making lemonade in the lemon of a year that was 2020.

Agriculture research business DSM Animal Nutrition and Health is seeking solutions for antimicrobial resistance and controlling animal emissions for years to come. The group is focused on improving sustainability throughout the food supply chain.

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Christie Chavis, vice president of animal nutrition specialties business for DSM Animal Nutrition and Health, discussed some of the positive changes that are evident in animal agriculture, including in the meat industry.

Chavis explained some of the measures many meat companies are taking to reach sustainability goals set for 2050. She also discussed how DSM is playing a role in moving the conversation forward by helping improve the gut health of animals.

Chavis also addressed progress being made in the poultry industry.

It is a conversation on how animal nutrition will continue to play a role in sustainability for generations to come.

Boston-based Five Way Foods manufactures premium beef, chicken and fish bone broths — in addition to a vegetable option — using locally sourced bones, vegetables and herbs. The broths are slow simmered for hours in order to extract vitamins and minerals. 

John Hopkins, founder of Five Way Foods, seized on the bone broth moment about five years ago. He was building his culinary skills in his home kitchen, cooking meals for his family. His youngest son had food allergies, so it was crucial that he pay strict attention to ingredients; whole foods were always on the menu — except when it came to broth. 

As his skill level in the kitchen continued to improve and he was using better cuts of meat and other ingredients, he started to ask himself, “Why am I getting a great piece of meat, locally sourced vegetables and other things, and then taking a carton of broth that’s probably been in my cabinet for weeks or months and then pouring it into that dish?”

Five Way Foods was born out of that experience.

The company was on the way to establishing a comfortable niche in farmers markets, Whole Foods stores and some foodservice operations; but then came the global pandemic. 

This episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast is a profile of Five Way Foods, how Hopkins started the company, where he thinks it’s headed and how its flagship product reflects his values about community, sustainability, stewardship and good health.

On the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, research and development advances are always on the radar.

For this episode, the subject of R&D is Motif Food Works, an ingredient company in Boston who works on developing products and ingredients with the properties of meat and replicating them in plant-based foods.

Mike Leonard, chief technology officer for Motif and veteran food scientist describes the progress plant-based ingredients for meat alternatives have seen during the pandemic with the company.

Leonard examines plant-based foods' development over the past few years and how consumers have started to try more of those products.

He also discusses the challenges Motif takes on by trying to make plant-based foods that mimic traditional meat products' taste and texture with its ingredients.

Later, Leonard describes how research and development worked for the company during COVID-19 and how its new research and development office fits into its future plans.

There are plenty of good reasons for making a successful business start-up a family affair but passing the torch from one generation to the next without careful planning can have ripple effects that strain relationships and impact the bottom line. In this week’s MEAT+POULTRYpodcast, Craig Aronoff, PhD, co-founder and senior advisor with The Family Business Consulting Group, based in Chicago, talks about the pros and potential cons of bringing family members into a business. Often, having the same last name as the founder of a company isn’t enough to warrant bringing the founder’s relatives into the business.

“It works best when you simply recognize that a business is a business and that is a different thing than a family,” Aronoff said.

A family member joining a family business is often more likely to be successful if the incoming spouse, son, daughter or brother brings value to the company, which includes having some other work and life experience and, ideally a college education. Aronoff recommends family members not only work for another company first but earn at least two promotions to give them credibility before coming back to the family business.

Aronoff also discussed the importance of establishing ownership of the company for incoming family members. Agreed upon responsibilities of owners need to be clear to management, board members and other owners in the family business, whether they are within the family or outside owners. Especially in companies that have multiple owners, a board of directors can play an important role in holding owners accountable. Boards can also help ensure more seamless leadership succession, career advancement and adherence to shareholders agreements, Aronoff said. These issues become more complex the bigger and more successful a business becomes.

“As I’ve said many times, family businesses are complicated,” Aronoff said.

For Dax Schafer, corporate chef with Asenzya, Oak Creek, Wis., developing custom spice blends and functional ingredients is just one function of his role which includes working with commercial food companies and chefs in the foodservice segment.

 As director of International Affairs for the Dutch Meat Industry Association, Frans van Dongen spent much of his time traveling and advocating on behalf of meat producers in the Netherlands. But the pandemic threw a big wrench in all of his flight plans.

If asked, he will say that all of the hours he spent in planes are now free, and all the hours he didn’t sleep because of his traveling – he can sleep now.

“So, I’m very relaxed at this moment,” he said. “But my sector isn’t. We have had a difficult time, and we still have a difficult time.”

The Dutch veal sector was hard-hit by pandemic-related lockdowns that closed restaurants in the Netherlands and across Europe. Sales of veal are very dependent on the foodservice sector with between 50% and 60% of consumption taking place in foodservice establishments in Europe, van Dongen said.

That market ranges from the typical restaurants in Italy and France that host business lunches, dinners, tourists in the cities to small shops in Germany that serve veal kebabs.

“That was all gone,” he said.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time on this one because in Europe, like in North America, there was a lot of discussion about helping the sectors overcoming the crisis outside of the food sector but also inside of the food sector in agriculture. In Europe this is all arranged at the European level.”

That meant the Dutch veal sector was competing with interests more broadly represented across the 27-member bloc at time when budgets are tight.

“We are not well-represented over all 27 — or 28 if you still include the UK — member states,” van Dongen said. “And veal is only produced in three, four member states.

“So, we had to solve our problems ourselves, and to a large extent, we were able to solve them.”

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, van Dongen explains how the Dutch meat industry, especially the veal sector, managed to pivot their veal supply management strategy in a way that would help producers during a second lockdown. He also provided insights into why the Dutch meat industry is well-positioned to emerge from this global crisis stronger than ever.

Compassion fatigue often is associated with the health care profession, but people who make their living in agriculture can be affected too.

At the NAMI 2020 Animal Welfare and Handling Conference, Monica Kramer McConkey, a rural mental health specialist in Minnesota, shared her insights into compassion fatigue and – if you’re experiencing it – coping strategies to help deal with it.

Pitmaster Melissa Cookston loves playing with fire; she cooks barbecue every day for a living.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, the seven-time world barbecue champion, restaurateur and most recently, judge on the Netflix series The American Barbecue Showdown, shares more behind-the-scenes insights from the show, including the fact that she didn’t get to play with fire for a month; explains how different cuts of meat can influence the quality of the cook; how the competition barbecue scene has changed; and the ‘dance’ that Cookston and her crew have done to keep her Memphis Barbecue Co. restaurant business booming during the pandemic.

It is well known throughout the meat and poultry processing industry that today’s consumers place a high level of importance on animal welfare. They want assurance that companies allow animals raised for food to live the best life possible while under the care of producers.

The newly constructed Tyson Foods Broiler Welfare Research Farm provides data on what broilers prefer, how they react to conditions such as lighting and enrichments, while operating on the scale of a commercial production operation, ensuring the data collected is usable and the results of trials repeatable.

In this week’s podcast, Tyson’s senior director of animal welfare, Karen Christensen, discusses the broiler research farm and how she and her team use it to continuously improve the welfare of animals under the care of Tyson producers.

 In this episode of the podcast, MEAT+POULTRY talks to Jim Murray, the national channel marketing and innovation manager for the National Pork Board. In his role, Murray works with retailers, foodservice chains, distribution and packer/value added processors.

Murray discusses the trends he has seen with pork throughout 2020 and how people are starting to crave variety in their cuts and recipes.

He also talks about the importance of October’s National Pork Month to the Pork Board and how they are working to extend their message more.

Later, Murray discusses what foodservice and retail trends looked like during this summer and what it could like for restaurants and delivery in the future.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Ambassador Gregg Doud, Chief Ag Trade Negotiator, Office of the US Trade Representative, and former US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, explain their reservations about the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy during the Ag Outlook Forum presented by the Kansas City Agricultural Business Council and AgriPulse on Sept. 28.

Recently, the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast featured Jeff Savell, a Texas A&M meat professor, as he shared stories of what it’s like having meat education in person during the pandemic. In this week’s podcast, Lynn Knipe, extension processed meats specialist at The Ohio State University, continues that discussion.

Knipe shares the processes and procedures that the faculty took in Columbus, Ohio, before holding on-campus meat classes. He also discusses how his extension programs feature people already working in the meat industry.

Lastly, Knipe shares his insights about other processing trends he’s seen during the COVID-19 pandemic including a larger interest in on-the-farm slaughtering and meat processing and what needs to be done to do it safely.

Earlier in August, Knipe was appointed to the USDA's National Advisotry Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI). He will serve a two-year term.

In this episode of the podcast, MEAT+POULTRY talked with Ryann Glenn and Michael Annis, partners in the Food & Agribusiness practice group of law firm Husch Blackwell.

The conversation covers a variety of ongoing legal topics in the meat and poultry industry, including how COVID-19 compares to other periods of agribusiness law.

Glenn and Annis also discuss the difficulties of litigating these cases for both the companies and the employees.

In addition, the attorneys laid out early legal procedures they have seen with meat processing cases during the pandemic and what the ongoing Safe to Work Act might look like if passed through the US Congress.

After closing campuses in a frenzy during the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, college and universities around the United States are bringing students back on campus while also staying socially distanced in the classroom.

Although some programs can be done remotely, meat science departments have a difficult time completing its necessary classes without in-person interaction

In this episode of the podcast, MEAT+POULTRY contributor and Texas A&M professor Jeff Savell tells listeners about how College Station, Texas is handling blended learning.

Savell discusses what students and staff have thought about the procedures to put their department back on campus.

He also talks about the different interactions with students and how it dramatically changes from in-person to Zoom.

Later, Savell looks at what meat education could look like the future.

Crowd Cow, an online purveyor of meat and poultry, started with two long-time friends offering their customers sustainability, transparency and origin stories combined with the convenience of the internet. In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast, co-founder Joe Heitzeberg explains why he believes online sales of fresh meat, poultry and other foods have jumped from niche to the “new normal” because of the pandemic – and maybe the lasting impact of a music file-sharing service called Napster.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has turned the meat and poultry industry on its ear, forcing companies to experiment with various strategies and new ideas to survive the crisis while planning for the new normal whenever the dust finally settles.

The daily challenges created by the virus have forced everyone to adopt new mindsets and adapt new ways of working, socializing and maintaining productive lives. Temple Grandin, PhD, is no exception. A professor of animal science at Colorado State University, the world’s foremost expert on livestock handling for the meat and poultry industry and an inspiring speaker and voice for the autism community, Grandin’s life has been turned on its ear thanks to COVID-19.

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Grandin discusses how she has pivoted her personal and professional life in the coronavirus era.

This week MEAT+POULTRY recorded one of the stories from the August edition of the magazine. Listen to the Small Business Matters feature.

For most small meat processors who have ventured into off-premises catering, the COVID-19 pandemic hit like a ton of bricks. Cancellations were massive and unceasing across the industry.

For Hess Meats Inc., a 105-year-old country meat shop in Willow Street, Pa., catering had become the main sail that powered their small family business. Then in mid-March, the ship seemed to have fallen off the edge of the Earth when large gatherings were prohibited.

Third-generation operator Lloyd Hess bought out his brother Paul’s share of the business in 2016, and last year turned over 51% of the ownership to his own son, Eric.

“We were just getting into our booking peak for catering for weddings and I got 19 cancellations in one day,” Lloyd said. “We do about 75 weddings a year and many were able to be rescheduled for later in the year or even into next year, but it almost brought us to our knees.

There’s a whole lot of pivoting going on in the food industry these days as retail operators tackle supply chain challenges and foodservice operators try to stay afloat.

We’ve all heard that the global pandemic is driving radical shifts in consumer shopping behavior. Euromonitor International, a leading provider of global strategic marketing intelligence, said the pandemic has spurred unprecedented levels of channel shift among consumer spending habits, and these shifts have pushed companies across industries to make significant operational adaptations to meet new consumer demands.

MEAT+POULTRY listened in to the Consumer Federation of America’s Virtual National Food Policy Conference held in July. Featured in a panel discussion of how COVID-19 is changing the US food system were Tom Bené, president and chief executive officer of the National Restaurant Association and Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI: The Food Industry Association who spoke about how their members are faring as the pandemic drags on.

Usually, National Hot Dog Day for the North American Meat Institute is one of the bigger events in Washington during the summer. Franks hit the grill as politicians and industry leaders enjoy a few hot dogs together.

However, with COVID-19 still a major issue across the country, NAMI decided to turn this annual celebration into a chance to give back to communities across the country.

In this episode of the podcast, returning guest, Eric Mittenthal vice president of sustainability at the North American Meat Institute, discusses the recent food drive with Feeding America to donate hundreds of thousands of hot dogs around the country.

In another segment, Mittenthal mentioned a revitalized campaign this year called Wiener Wednesday as a chance for consumers to enjoy their hot dogs weekly.

During the podcast, Mittenthal also covers what NAMI has done during the pandemic to help members along with future projects the group has for the industry.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has left no corner of the US food industry untouched – meat processors especially. Stories of COVID-19 outbreaks among workers and the measures processors are taking to keep plants running and protect workers from infection have been prevalent since the pandemic began.

Specialty producers also have faced challenges brought on by the pandemic. Ask Jordan Beeman, president and chief executive officer of HeartBrand Beef in Flatonia, Texas, and he will describe the past five months as “like living on a wave” with plenty of ups and downs. But in the next breath, Beeman will say his company also has been fortunate.

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY podcast, Beeman gives his view of the US beef industry from the perspective of a specialty producer trying to navigate the choppy waters of a pandemic.

Paul Shapiro, CEO of Better Meat Co., is trying to expand blended meat products into the protein market.

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Shapiro discusses what went into starting Better Meat, its business strategy and how the products are made and shipped to other meat processors.

The mettle of business owners and operators of all types and sizes has perhaps never been tested more than during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While many companies may have previously had some semblance of a crisis plan in place for unlikely circumstances that could affect their business operations, almost nobody could have predicted the devastating and widespread impact a global pandemic would have. 

In this week’s MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Craig Aronoff, PhD, co-founder and principal consultant of Chicago-based Family Business Consulting Group, discusses how in many ways, crisis management in a family owned and operated business can make or break the company and family bonds.

This is the latest in a series of podcasts, web news reports and feature stories that are part of Family Business Focus, a partnership between MEAT+POULTRY and the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). MEAT+POULTRY and NAMI’s family business task force have joined forces to provide information and resources to help family-held companies survive and thrive.

In this episode of the podcast, MEAT+POULTRY speaks with Sam Edwards III, 3rd generation cure-master and chief executive officer of Surry, Va.-based, Edwards Virginia Smokehouse.

Edwards discusses the steps his family business has taken to keep its crafted ham products relevant through the difficulties of the pandemic and another incident a few years ago. During the interview, Edwards explains how his business continued to work through a 2016 fire that destroyed the ham producer’s facilities.

Then, he discusses how COVID-19 shifted many business practices at their retail stores and at its Surry, Va. headquarters. Edwards also discusses the direct-to-consumer business or mail-order business that has continued to be successful for his company through the years.

Edwards also shares how the company has started to engage customers with Q&A sessions online on how to cook ham products for the dinner table.

These topics and more are covered in this week’s podcast with Sam Edwards from Edwards Virginia Smokehouse – give it a listen and let us know what you think.

As companies began to reopen processing facilities during April and May, many questions remain about how worker safety and the food supply security will continue when capacity increases during the summer.

MEAT+POULTRY turned to Dr. Bob Norton, chair of Auburn University Food System Institute's Food and Water Defense Working Group, for a discussion on a variety of these issues.

In this episode of the podcast, Norton outlines what will need to happen for companies to maintain and increase capacity at plants after community spread has subsided among workers.

In the second part of the podcast, Norton discusses how farmers around the meat industry will continue to struggle with a backlog of inventory.

Norton also describes his role in monitoring the pandemic, including why other American infrastructure has not been as affected as much as meat processing.

Dan O’Malley, founder and president of Before the Butcher, talks about product innovations, partnerships with traditional protein processors, and what the plant-based space is all about.

MEAT+POULTRY spoke with Danny O’Malley, founder and president of Before the Butcher, a maker of plant-based proteins. He talked about the company and its Uncut line of plant-based products. He also discussed the rapid rise of plant-based meat alternatives, the impact of the current pandemic on growth and the way forward for the category in the age of coronavirus.

Looking back at her education and the formative years she spent working at Smithfield Foods, Emily Detwiler was ready for her most recent career change when opportunity knocked. Initially she stepped away from her role as the director of fresh pork marketing for Smithfield Foods to avoid uprooting her family from Kansas City and relocating to Virginia with Smithfield. As it turned out, it was the work she did with the pork company that led her to her next move this past August, when she assumed the newly created role of chief executive officer of the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS).

It was a logical progression for Detwiler’s career and in this week’s MEAT+POULTRYPodcast she discusses how her education in marketing led her to work in the food industry, and then with Smithfield, where she claims she came in knowing a lot about marketing and a little about meat. During her stint of about four years with Smithfield, Detwiler immersed herself in the smoke and fire world of competition barbecue and positioned Smithfield as one of the industry’s most committed processors supporting and promoting the increasingly popular culture and cuisine that is American barbecue.

She spent years around some of the biggest names in the competitive barbecue circuit during her unique journey that helped her land her dream job with KCBS. She learned plenty from barbecue icons like Tuffy Stone and Chris Lilly during her journey. Establishing relationships with these well-known influencers and others in the barbecue world provided her with credibility and in hindsight, prepared her for leading KCBS today and into the future.

As a supplement to this podcast, MEAT+POULTRY’s annual Barbecue Report, publishing in June, will include a more in-depth profile of Detwiler and how the past 10 months in her new role have been everything she expected and more, especially given the challenges created by the recent coronavirus pandemic.

KANSAS CITY, MO. – Retail meat sales have continued to grow exponentially during the coronavirus pandemic. This has led consumers to buy up beef chicken and pork, but lamb has also seen a major increase.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Rick Stott, chief executive officer of Superior Farms, an integrated producer and processor of lamb based in Sacramento, California, to see how the company is handling the coronavirus situation.

Stott discussed varying business trends on a day-to-day basis including the massive shift in demand away from foodservice. Then he explained what it took for Superior Farms to transition its processing operations from foodservice and retail to, now, all retail. Stott also talked about precautions Superior has taken, including social distancing practices and focusing on the sanitation of its facilities to ensure the safety of its employees and products.

Finally, Stott mentioned how the company was preparing for the annual spike in demand associated with the Easter holiday, even during these challenging times.

In this podcast, Dana Ehrlich, co-founder and CEO of Verde Farms, and Pete Lewis, chief marketing officer, unpack some of the highlights in Verde Farms’ evolution which include a new frozen and fresh beef processing facility in Mullica Hill, New Jersey; a $15-million investment from Manna Tree Partners, and the launch of a sous vide cooked line of grass-fed, pasture-raised organic beef cuts, strips and shredded beef meal solutions called Simply Sear It.

The Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO) was started to create standardization and accreditation with regard to animal welfare auditing.

According to PAACO’s mission statement, “PAACO’s vision is to be the authority on animal welfare auditing by providing high quality training and certification credentials for auditors and audits. Animal welfare issues affect multiple segments of our animal and food industry, and they all must support the comprehensive animal care areas we serve.”

PAACO trained auditors serve the swine, dairy, poultry, beef cattle and feedlot industries.

In this week’s podcast, PAACO Executive Director Collette Kaster explains the history of PAACO, its purpose and how the organization is working to make the meat industry better.

In addition to her work as executive director of PAACO, in 2019, Kaster took on an additional role as the CEO of American Meat Science Association. Find out more about this new role as well as her many experiences as a part of the meat industry for more than 30 years in the April issue of MEAT+POULTRY.

Once again, meat industry leaders will gather in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 2-4 for the Annual Meat Conference (AMC) at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.

The event is sponsored by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI).

In 2019, 1,700 industry professionals showed up for the conference and more than 115 exhibits provided opportunities for attendees to connect with industry experts.

The AMC features the latest in meat-processing technology and more. It also provides hours of education sessions covering a variety of topics pertinent to the meat retailing industry. The conference will also feature products from more than 400 meat and poultry retail buyers for attendees to sample. The event is dedicated to getting meat and poultry retail buyers, suppliers and consumers in the same place.

In Canada, halal-observant consumers are one of that country’s fastest growing market segments. In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Salima Jivraj, client services director at Nourish Food Marketing and founder of Halal Foodie, provides insights into understanding halal consumers and strategies food companies should undertake to gain their trust.

Matt Wadiak, co-founder of Blue Apron, launched Cooks Venture last year because he saw agriculture as an untapped opportunity to make an impact on climate change using regenerative agriculture practices.

After seeing a surge of meat alternatives come onto the market in 2019, 2020 looks to be going down a similar path.

There are new companies jumping into the meat alternative frenzy, but there are also established brands developing products.

That’s why the rise of plant-based products will continue to be on our watch this year.

Listen above for the latest meat alternative stories MEAT+POULTRYcovered since January. Below are the links to the stories on meatpoultry.com this week.

Impossible Foods: http://bit.ly/39Xp6sq

Kroger: http://bit.ly/37Y2tm5

Hooters Unreal Wings: http://bit.ly/36HkN2B

Prime Roots: http://bit.ly/35G1oxx

MEAT+POULTRY’s first podcast of the year focuses on the pork industry and specifically explores findings from the National Pork Board’s (NPB) consumer research conducted this past year.

Tara-Ann Dugan, director of consumer and marketplace insights for the NPB, discussed key findings about consumers, including the role of simplicity and convenience in new product offerings as well as pork’s health and wellness attributes. Dugan also covers how pork’s popularity continues to grow across cultures and the opportunities that still exist

Dugan details all the programs the association spearheaded in 2019 and looks ahead at opportunities in the coming year based on the most recent consumer trends.

In the last few months, MEAT+POULTRY  launched its latest podcast. The weekly audio installment. Weekly installments of the MEAT+POULTRY podcast gives people a chance to hear about different aspects of the industry. The podcast allows editors to share experiences after their reporting is complete from cutting edge facilities around North America.

It also provides people in the industry a chance to further explain the innovations and steps they are taking to move meat into the future. We also track the latest trends in the industry and their short and long term impact.

Look for more exciting stories of the industry to be covered throughout 2020. Subscribe to the meat and poultry podcast on meat poultry. com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Popeyes-Chick-fil-A rivalry generated plenty of buzz and sales of chicken sandwiches but not without a few helpings of controversy on the side.

Acts of violence committed by customers against each other and restaurant staff marked a low-point in the chicken sandwich war. Conflict driven by high demand and disrupted supplies at Popeyes might have contributed to the problem.

In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, Sol Marketing CEO Deb Gabor shares her insights into crisis management strategies that can help brands survive negative publicity that can tarnish a brand's image. She also explains how this brand battle turned into a win-win for the combatants, and she floats the idea of irrational loyalty and the role it plays in keeping consumers faithful to their favorite brands.

Country Archer Jerky Co. is a meat snack success story with an unlikely beginning and a promising future. After stopping at a roadside stand while on vacation almost 10 years ago, Eugene Kang bought some beef jerky that would change his life – it was love at first bite.

At the Animal Welfare and Handling Conference held in Kansas City Oct. 17-18, Eric Mittenthal, vice president of sustainability for the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), announced a new initiative called Trust in Animal Protein.

MEAT+POULTRY spoke with Mittenthal after the conference to get more details about Trust in Animal Protein and to learn why the industry needs this new standard for animal welfare.

Dakota Provisions went big after the company chose to create its first line of consumer products under the Dakota 44 brand. MEAT+POULTRY caught up with Renee Robertson, senior marketing manager of Dakota 44, to get up to speed on a brand that aims to bring more than turkey to consumers’ tables.

Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, specializes in separating signals from noise — drilling down to the data that matters — to deliver actionable insights to the meat and poultry industry stakeholders who rely on the research, analysis and other information that CattleFax provides to its subscribers.

He was a featured speaker at the Certified Angus Beef Annual Conference held in Asheville, North Carolina this week, and he took a few minutes to share with MEAT+POULTRY his observations of the trends and issues affecting the meat and poultry industry.

Bacon, like butter, makes everything better. But what could make bacon better? Making your own at home. Enter Riverton, Wyoming-based Hi Mountain Seasonings, a leading manufacturer of seasoning kits for homemade jerky and sausage that recently launched do-it-yourself bacon cure kits.

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., the world’s leading authority on livestock handling and professor of animal science at Colorado State Univ., recently visited Cargill Protein’s new Headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, to commemorate the company’s progress in animal handling. After talking with employees about her life and the evolution of animal handling in the meat and poultry industry, Grandin answered some questions from the media including Editor Joel Crews.

Crews asked about how she first got her foot in the door at one of her first, and biggest clients and she went on to recall how she mailed drawings of a livestock handling system for a Cargill beef plant in Canada. The plans were noticed by Cargill’s Bill Fielding in the late 1980s and a working relationship was born.

Crews also asked Grandin and Lacey Alexander, Cargill’s animal welfare lead for beef, about the role of technology in animal handling and welfare, including remote video auditing (RVA), which was implemented by Cargill more than a decade ago. Alexander discussed RVA and steps the company takes to train Cargill employees on the important balance between technology and behavior.

Michael Billings, head of procurement at ButcherBox, strongly believes that people just want to know the truth about where their food comes from.

In the second episode of our conversation with Billings, he talks about communicating claims to consumers and partnering with Niman Ranch. He also has thoughts about what it’s like for a short-time retiree trying to train younger workers to succeed in a business they might not know much about. Billings’ connection to agriculture grew from a childhood spent helping his grandfather on a chicken farm.

Michael Billings retired from BJ’s Wholesale Club in Westborough, Massachusetts, after 25 years as vice president of meat and seafood procurement. Roughly four years in, he had no plans to return to work until one day, Billings recalled, “…I got this interesting note on my LinkedIn account that said, ‘Interesting background; need to talk,’ and it was the owner of ButcherBox.”

Mike Salguero founded ButcherBox in 2015 using $215,000 he’d raised through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The online retailer sells and delivers sustainably raised Certified Humane meat and poultry raised by independent family farms. “I met him,” Billings said, “and he’s just an amazing guy. I thought what he was trying to do was pretty interesting.”

Semi-retired manager of Flight Food Systems at NASA and an Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) board member Vickie Kloeris , had oversight of the contract responsible for producing the food the Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station (ISS). In her role, which she held for 34 years, she worked with crew members to select items to take on their missions, one among a myriad of duties.

In the final episode of the series, social media is the elephant in the room and on the side of the consumer.

Bob Langert, a former vice president over sustainability initiatives at McDonald’s and author of “The Battle to do Good: Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey,” discusses the impact of social media on Corporate America’s ability to define its responsibilities to society. And, he shares some “hard-knock nuggets” of advice for businesses trying to navigate the disruption caused by social media.

Next week, Ryan McCarthy, digital media associate editor, sits down with MEAT+POULTRY Features Editor, Bob Sims who visited Prestage Foods of Iowa on assignment.

Prestage Foods of Iowa began hog slaughter under USDA inspection in March of this year. The 700,000-sq.-ft. facility houses some of the most advanced pork processing technology in the industry. MEAT+POULTRY got a first look inside the plant. We hope you’ll listen in to Ryan and Bob’s conversation to learn more about this awesome facility.

 Bob Langert, a former vice president over sustainability initiatives at McDonald’s spent more than 20 years at McDonald’s focused on ways for the company to address a range of issues related to sustainability.

For his book,"The Battle to do Good: Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey", Langert says he interviewed about 51 people who were part of McDonald’s sustainability journey during his time with company. According to Langert, no company goes it alone when it comes to sustainability. But if sustainability is a team sport, who do you want to play for your side?

Bob Langert has a few thoughts about this subject which kicks off the second installment of our conversation.

Next week, we’re taking a break for the July 4 holiday, but we’re not quite done sharing what we learned from Bob Langert about McDonald’s and sustainability. So, in the third and final installment of our conversation, he answers several questions, including: Who defines the role of companies in society these days and how does social media influence that debate? Does big business have any business addressing social issues? And what’s a “hard knock nugget?”