Kent Harrison, Tyson Fresh Meats, offers his thoughts on the effects that the pandemic had on the meat and poultry markets and how processors like Tyson Fresh Meats are responding in order to keep consumers craving meat and poultry even as normalcy returns.
As chaotic and tumultuous as 2020 was, it did bring some good news to the meat processing industry. Consumers did not lose their appetite for meat when the Coronavirus pandemic closed down restaurants.
Meat and poultry still play an important role in the American diet, but more consumers — particularly those in the younger generations — want the facts behind the meat they eat.
The simple act of buying food at a restaurant or a grocery store has never been more challenging, thanks to an overload of online data, news reports and opinions widely available to every consumer.
While dashboard dining may seem like a term that was heard more often at the beginning of this century, it nonetheless has become a lifestyle for more and more people through the years.
With bacon’s popularity, there are plenty of processors thinking outside the box and creating unique bacon products that complement the standard, beloved pork belly.
Not all bacon is created equal. Sure, the consumer love affair with bacon shows no sign of relenting, so any bacon product that reaches the marketplace stands at least a decent chance of finding an audience.
Even though postmortem aging has been widely accepted as the predominant technique for improving the tenderness and overall eating experience of beef, retailers are hesitant to age beef for extended time periods prior to placing it in the retail case because product “freshness” is reduced and a shorter display life may be realized.